A new life together
by poloboy209
Summary: The new intersect is up and running, Chuck must make a choice. Take his own life or that of Sarah's. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Chuck was not having a good day. Although working at the BuyMore for eleven dollars an hour would, to an average person, would make nearly every day a bad day. But Chuck was having an especially bad day. From the start he knew something bad was going to happen. For starters his alarm clock broke making him late, so as he hurried through a cold shower he was already dreading the day ahead. At least the best part of the day was coming; Sarah was going to take him to work.

Sweat trickled down his thick brows as he waited for the familiar silver Porsche to arrive. Soon enough the nostalgic sounds of screeching wheels and a roaring motor sounded. The car tore through the estate in a shining silver blur.

The door clicked open easily, and a wave of cool air breezed past his face. Chuck peered inside only to find Sarah looking distressed. Her blond hair was ruffled, indicating a bad night's sleep. Wrinkles and creases stretched across her Orange Orange tank top, something he didn't know was even possible. Dark ominous eye bags underlined her eyes contrasting with their light blue tone.

"Everything alright?" he asked, clearly concerned. All he received in reply was a grunt as she motioned for him to enter. A placid expression masked her emotions but the tension was palpable.

The car ride was awkward to say the least; neither of them even spoke a word let alone a sentence. Upon arriving in the BuyMore parking lot, Chuck hurriedly made his escape. Strangely as he walked, the usual sound of Sarah's car driving away was missing. Normally he hated hearing that noise but today he would have done anything to hear said noise.

"Ahem?" she cleared her throat, obviously expecting something. Chuck turned around to see Sarah standing beside her car door staring at him expectantly. His eyebrow rose in question. She cleared her throat again; her eyes were full of emotion however her message eluded him.

"Oh for Christ's sake," she cried, before striding toward Chuck and pulled him into a deep kiss. Shock ricocheted through him and he desperately tried to pull away. Sarah was never this affectionate; usually their cover kisses were chaste and quick.

Sarah apparently wasn't for ending the kiss quickly because we continued kissing like this for the next minute or so. By the time they ended their kiss, both of them were breathing hard. Chuck looked around, searching for the person that was watching.

No one was there.

He returned his gaze to her. A blush had crept onto her face and her lithe frame rose and fell slowly as she breathed. "What was that for?" he asked.

She frowned at him contemplating her thoughts. "I didn't know kissing me was such a chore." She hissed angrily.

"Sarah…you know that's not what I meant" Chuck replied meekly. "It's just we aren't a real couple," he whispered. The grumpy attitude that she gave off in the morning ebbed after the kiss, however Chuck's reply only served to bring it back.

"Well, if you hate kissing me so much, we just won't kiss anymore," she replied meekly and then proceeded to turn around and renter her car before driving off, leaving Chuck wondering what the hell he did wrong.

"I knew this was a bad day…" he grumbled before walking into the BuyMore.

**Please read and review, I accept all criticisms. This is my first time writing from a third-person view so sorry if I fail to convey the emotions properly.**


	2. Chapter 2

The BuyMore was surprisingly full today; every worker, even Morgan, seemed to have a customer on their hands. In the background, Casey was helping an elderly lady pick out a barbeque pit. He seemed to be in a bad mood today, just like Sarah. A frown was plastered across his face as the woman continually bombarded him with questions.

"Bartowski!" Big Mike yelled from across the hall. Chuck turned unsteadily to face the stout tanned man with a powdered doughnut in his grasp. "Where have you been? We've been swamped today. Calls have been coming in since we opened, and if you think I'm going to send Jeff or Lester out, you're going to be sorely disappointed."

After the lecture, Big Mike took an enormous bite from his doughnut, finishing about half of it, and shoved a crumpled piece of paper into Chuck's hands. One look at the paper and Chuck groaned, "Could this day get any worse?" he mumbled before picking up the keys to the Nerd Herder and his tool box.

First stop Orange Orange…

The glass doors to the Orange Orange opened silently. Chuck carefully put one foot in and waited for a reply. Seeing that the coast was clear, he dashed inwards only to see Sarah walking out of the freezer with a huge pack of gummy worms in her arms.

"Hey" she greeted with an unusual amount of optimism. It seemed all memories of the earlier incident had been either forgotten or forgiven. Chuck briskly strided towards the counter, determined to spend as little time as possible in the yogurt shop.

"What's wrong?" he asked curtly.

"The freezer is not working." She replied cheerfully. All of a sudden the bag of gummy worms she was holding spilled out of her arms, covering the floor with a kaleidoscope of colors. "Ahh! "She screamed. It took a minute for Chuck to realize what was wrong with this picture, weren't CIA agents trained not to scream?

Sarah hurriedly began crawling on her knees and picking up the scattered worms. Unfortunately, her bending down resulted in her skirt riding up dangerously high, exposing her long sun-kissed legs. Chuck begged his eyes not to stare and amazingly after only a moment, he managed to close his eyes.

Sarah turned around with an annoyed look on her face. She cleared her throat inconspicuously and sarcastically said, "Oh don't mind me, just a girl picking up worms on her floor. I don't need any help at all."

If there was one thing that Chuck could understand, it was sarcasm. Sighing, he bent down to help her pick up her multicolored toppings. With two pairs of hands at work, all the gummy worms were picked up in no time.

"Whew – so about that freezer," Chuck picked up his gear and followed her into the back of the restaurant. Inside, he found a metallic room about the size of his living room; it had all kinds of boxes stacked up in columns. At the far corner of the room, he saw the problem, a cooling unit stood void of the usual blinking lights.

He opened his tool box and went to work fixing the unit…


	3. Chapter 3

Man that was one broken unit. If I didn't know better I'd think that someone actually hired a professional to break it, repairing it actually took me two whole hours. "Big Mike's gonna kill me," I mumbled. Also, without the cooling unit, the freezer was unimaginably hot leaving me sweating profusely. Sarah of course had demanded to stay with me throughout the process, seeing as it was her fault the unit broke.

That was pretty much how we spent it. His head would be half-stuck in the unit while he would continuously asked Sarah for tools. Her hair by now was matted with sweat and clung to her. The tank top she wore was now partially see-through, giving chuck a very flattering view of her chest. This proved to be quite the surprise for Chuck for when he finally pulled his, now slick with sweat, head out of the unit; he couldn't do much more than stare.

"What? Do I have something on my shirt?" she asked innocently. Chuck's incoherent words only served to worsen his torture as she began stretching the already tantalizingly tight fabric to get a better look. Realization dawned upon her and a sly smile crept onto her lips.

She sauntered over to him accentuating every movement, enjoying the multiple looks of confusion that formed on his face. A mischievous sparkle twinkled in the corner of one eye. Suddenly the room felt a lot smaller to Chuck and every breath was labored.

"Chuck…" she mused, "I'm afraid I don't have the money to pay for your services…" She then laughed seeing how his eyes darted from side to side. "We're just going to have to work out some other form of – payment." She intentionally whispered that last word into his ear. He shivered at the sudden exposure to Sarah's moist warm breath.

"Wait Sarah…" he began, only to be cut off.

"Wait? Wait. Wait!" she exclaimed. It was amazing how the same word went from confusion to understanding to anger. "Do you have any idea how many guys in the world would have begged me to do that? I can't believe you Chuck!" The second she finished, she turned around and stormed out of the freezer, letting that last syllable ring throughout the four metal walls.

Chuck mentally face palmed himself and took off after her. He found her standing at the white plastic counter, she was absentmindedly fiddling with a bucket of spoons and she seemed to exude an aura of sadness.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" he asked. "You've been acting crazy all day…" he added, his face was scrunched up and both of his hands were protectively raised to withstand any blow she might give him.

She sighed and continued to rearrange the spoons. This was not a good enough reply for Chuck so he shimmied up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Sarah's shoulders tensed at his touch but eventually relaxed, he tried to turn her around but she seemed adamant on keeping her back facing him. He tried once again and when she still didn't shift, he rested his forehead onto the top of her head.

Finally, she turned to face him. "General Beckman called today; she said the new intersects complete. The mission's over Chuck…" her voice was tinged with sadness and she had to repeatedly pause to get all her words out. The news hit Chuck like a ton of bricks and he stumbled back from the news.

"So what happens now?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Well… I think we should wait for Casey." She had resumed her icy tone of difference that she had used the day he met her. There was no more sadness in her eyes, actually there was no more emotion in those two blue orbs. Chuck nodded and returned to the BuyMore, anxious for the events that would transpire later today.

Upon returning to the BuyMore he was instantly greeted by Morgan. "What's up buddy, crazy day today huh?" Morgan asked with his usual amount of enthusiasm.

"Definitely" Chuck said, his reply came out as a whisper and if Morgan had not been standing only a few feet away from him, it would have gone unheard.

"You okay man?" the elfish man asked.

Chuck rubbed his eyes and said, "Yea, it's just been a long day."

"I know right, anyway only three more hours till closing time. Hang on man," he replied, clearly unsure of the appropriate thing to say. Chuck nodded slightly and returned to his post. Thankfully the rest of the day passed uneventfully.

Chuck had a lot of time to think while he sat at the Nerd Herd desk: What am I going to do if they put me in a bunker for the rest of my life? He groaned and placed his head in his palms. Eventually, the time came for the meeting. Casey walked over and literally dragged Bartowski toward the Orange Orange. Looks like the cover didn't really matter anymore.

The walk down to Castle seemed to take longer than normal but in the end Chuck still found himself in front of the same laptop that General Beckman always conversed with them through. On his right was Sarah and opposite him sat Casey. The thereof them sat in silence as they waited for General Beckman to call in. Casey toyed around with his gun, mindlessly fiddling with it. Sarah continuously ran her fingers through her beautiful honey yellow locks trying to smooth it out further. Chuck just sat there with his mouth agape, he still couldn't believe that the mission that had lasted three years was about to end.

The screen cracking to life put an end to the awkwardness in the room as all three members greeted the General as per usual.

"I believe that we all know why we're here today, this meeting is to decide what happens to Chuck." She said in an authorative tone.

"Chuck has been an invaluable asset General, I'm sure that he would be of some use to the NSA." Casey quickly added.

"Yes… true as that may be, the risk of another unsecured intersect running around wily nily is too much of a risk for me to allow." The General replied in a strained voice. "Which is why, Mr Bartowski, we the NSA present you with two options. One, you undergo a quick painless chemically induced death at one of the NSA's government laboratories. Or" She couldn't continue as Sarah had cut in fiercely.

"That is not acceptable." She stated simply.

"Well agent Walker whether or not you find that to be of reasonable acceptance is none of my concern. The decision is the intersects to make and the intersects alone." By this point, Sarah looked murderous, almost as if she was going to pull out her gun and shoot the screen. "Now as I was saying, option two is that one of the two agents in this room decides to take up permanent guardianship of you."

"Wh – what?" Chuck asked. "You mean to tell me that the only two options I have is to either take my own life or take the life of one of my friends?"

"Yes, of course the second option is only available to you should the guardian of your choice agree." the General stated and then continued seeing as Chuck seemed to momentarily lost his ability to speak. "You must understand that you possess information that is detrimental to the government. A leaked secret could lead to the third World War."

The room fell into silence. No one spoke a word and all eyes were on Chuck. After a few minutes of contemplation, Chuck finally spoke, "Well then I pick option one."


	5. Chapter 5

The General seemed to relax slightly at Chuck's reply. "Well it's good to know that you see the gravity of the situation. Your country thanks y…" Again Sarah cut in.

"No." she said firmly.

"I beg your pardon?" The General obviously was not used to having agents talk back to her and now seemed to be too stunned to speak.

"Chuck is not going to die, I won't allow it."

"Sarah, look…" he began, hoping to talk her into the idea.

"No Chuck." She repeated and then proceeded to glare at him, daring him to challenge her words. However, taking away the life of a friend was too much for Chuck, and if he needed to stand up to Sarah he would do it.

"I pick option one." Chuck said. Sarah's glare intensified if possible and Chuck had to avoid meeting her gaze to keep up the shaky confidence he had built. "Go on Casey just do it now."

"Big words Bartowski, but I respect your decision." Casey drew out his government issued pistol and aimed it directly at Chuck's head. The pistol gleamed in the fluorescent light of the room and only the barrel of the gun was covered in darkness. Surprisingly, Sarah did nothing to stop him; all she did was sit there and stare at Chuck.

"Well? Come on!" Chuck urged. A vein popped out in Casey's neck as a mental war raged in his mind. His teeth grinded together and his grip visibly tightened.

"No" he said finally, ending the dramatic tension that had been building up. Chuck was flabbergasted; Casey who had always threatened to kill Chuck if he didn't stay in the car was passing up a free shot. The world didn't make sense anymore.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to fly to D.C to get killed." Chuck then stood up, pushed in his chair and coolly walked out of the room. The moment Chuck left the room, his confident front crumbled; he was going to die… But he'd rather die than rob Sarah, or heck even Casey, of their careers or their lives.

**Sorry for the short chapter, the last one was too long. I Thought this would be a good place to stop.**


	6. Chapter 6

The moment Chuck reached home; he grabbed his Stanford duffel bag and began packing his clothes. Elle noticed the angry way Chuck packed and moved over to stop him. Only when her hands grabbed his did Chuck realize that Elle was home, both of them sat down on Chuck's bed and hugged.

Finally Chuck broke the silence by saying,"If Sarah comes by later don't let her in." He said this half-heartedly as he knew even if the door was locked; she'd find another way in.

"Is that what this is about?" Elle asked pulling herself away from Chuck. Her maroon shirt now had streaks of Chuck's tears on it and was pretty much ruined.

Chuck's mind raced, he needed a good excuse right now and the easiest thing to say to get Elle to let him go on an unaccompanied trip was a breakup. "Yes" he said finally.

"Oh Chuck… I'm so sorry." She said and proceeded to rub his back as they embraced again. For the next few minutes, all they did was hug while Elle made soothing noises.

"I have something else to say," said chuck through crocodile tears. Guess he did pick one or two things from Sarah. "I need to leave."

"What?" Elle asked, shocked. She stared at Chuck with a piercing gaze, reserved for when she suspected something was wrong. Thankfully Chuck managed to meet her gaze and keep it there. After a minute or so, Elle blinked, convinced…

As soon as Elle left, Chuck went back to packing only to be interrupted again. Sarah hopped in through Chuck's window and Chuck mentally cursed at forgetting that entrance. Pretending she didn't exist, he continued packing. Her shoulders were raised like a predators; her body language screamed hostility and her delicate features formed a scowl.

"Frowning like that gives you wrinkles you know?" he mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. His joke only served to notch up the tension in the room as neither of them laughed. "I take it you're still upset?" he asked after the silence became unbearable. With his peripheral vision he saw her body relax oh so slightly, he mentally cheered at his accomplishment.

"You know you'll have to get by me if you want to get to D.C," she said with a smirk. Huck smiled at this, it almost seemed like things were back to normal. Almost.

"Do you want to spend one last night together?" he asked sheepishly.

Sarah was surprised at his sudden bravado but agreed. She walked over to his closet and pulled out a Stanford sweatshirt. Chuck shrieked, Sarah was stripping in his room! He stuttered out a few words and masked his face with his hands.

"What?" she asked with mock innocence.

"You're almost naked." He managed.

"Why, you want to sleep naked?" she asked cheekily, watching as Chuck's face found new dark shades of red. Since he didn't reply, she started to remove her underwear and went over to hug Chuck. In his defense, he really tried to break free of her grip, removing one hand from his eyes; he started to wrestle out of her. It was amusing to see how you wrestle while at the same time avoiding any contact with your opponent.

"Sarah!" he said finally.

"What? Isn't this what you wanted?" she asked playfully.

"Alright, you've had your fun, now put your clothes on."

"No." she said in her little girl's voice. Then she grabbed his free hand and put it in between her chest, this caused Chuck to pull back and fall onto the bed. He instantly tried to get up but with her CIA-trained reactions, she managed to pin him onto the bed.

"Sarah…" he moaned. She had used her hands to remove his from his eyes, which now were closed so tightly, it seemed they would never open again. "Let go of me." He almost ordered.

With a huff, she released him but intentionally left her clothes off and snuggled with Chuck. He was so afraid he would accidentally touch her that he laid perfectly still with his arms by his side.

"Chuck…" Sarah said, annoyed. "I think you don't quite get the concept of cuddling." She then grabbed his arms and put them around her waist. They now lay in a perfect spoon position and Sarah finally felt safe enough to sleep. He was hers, her Chuck,_her Chuck…_


	7. Chapter 7

Morning came way too early as it always does. Sunlight streamed in through the window, cut into horizontal strips by the window blinds. The strips infused the numerous posters hanging on chuck's walls with a new-found vibrancy. Two bodies lay in the bed, tangled like tree vines; a hand here, a leg there.

Chuck moaned, he knew that when he went to sleep they were cuddling, but this was ridiculous. Every limb was held strategically in place, whether by chance or not, only god knows. Today was the big day; it was the day he was a dead man walking. Sarah would never let him go through with it, but taking away her life was too much for Chuck to do; he'd rather kill himself than let that happen.

He tried to move one arm from under her, but stopped the instant he felt her stirring. _Damn _he thought, _why in the world did I let her talk me into letting her wrap herself around me?_ Subtly, he tried again only to be stopped by a surprisingly hard grip on his wrist. A tanned and tiny hand had attached itself firmly on his wrist and try as he might he could not shake it off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sarah asked in a voice that clearly indicated that all traces of drowsiness was gone.

"Sarah…" Chuck moaned and then stopped as his eyes found hers. Strangely, her gaze was not one of anger but instead of fear. "Sarah are you alright?" he asked again while he slowly peeled himself from under her lean body.

"Are you leaving me?" she asked quietly. Pools of tears were forming in the crevices of her eyes, shimmering like dozens of diamonds. Chuck was shocked.

"Sarah, I…" he began but found himself at a loss for words. He closed his eyes to think of the right thing to say but opened them as he felt something brush against his back. She was straddling him now. "Sarah, let go." He tried, while half-heartedly pushing her away.

"Please don't go," she said, her words were punctuated by sniffles and every sniffle sent a wave of pain through Chuck's heart.

"I can't let you do what you want to do," he started before the air was crushed out of him by a signature Sarah bear hug. It was amazing, she was crushing him and yet to him, it felt more pleasurable than painful. Her arms, although thin, were tightly muscled and refused to acknowledge any of his pleas.

"Sorry Chuck…" she said. The statement had just reached his mind when he felt a devastating blow fall on the back of his head. At first there was no feeling, it was as if time had come to a stop. Then the slightest seed of pain was implanted and that seed grew and grew and grew until it enveloped his mind, eliminating all other feelings. Its tendrils reached every spectrum of his brain and for a second it felt like he was going to die.

Sarah had killed him.


	8. Chapter 8

When Chuck finally woke up the first thing he thought of was "why does my head hurt so much". Then, as if the metaphorical floodgates were opened, wave after wave of memories flooded in. He instantly took in his surroundings; he was in a very empty room. It had no furniture whatsoever in it and its walls were decorated with cracks, chipping paint and dust. The room had no windows, only a door, and was roughly the size of Chuck's bedroom.

A creak sounded and Chuck instantly closed his eyes, pretending to still be unconscious. He heard the wooden boarded floor creak, steadily getting louder, as his unknown kidnapper approached. A warm hand pressed against his forehead and he realized that his kidnapper was a girl. Her hand was small to say the least but her skin was also smooth and her touch gentle.

Suddenly, Citruses popped into Chuck's mind. Then it hit him, the air smelled faintly of citruses; a tangy yet tart scent that left a fruity and sweet taste in your mouth. Even more distressingly it reminded him of the perfume Sarah wore. He instantly cursed himself for thinking such absurd thoughts, of all people, why would Sarah kidnap him?

His kidnapper seemed satisfied and left the room. Chuck ended his façade and started figuring a way out, and then he realized there was nothing holding him to his chair, no handcuffs, no rope heck not even duck tape. Getting to his feet, he stumbled from the rush of blood to his legs. Apparently they had been numb without him noticing and as the blockage was cleared from him standing up, wave after wave of pins assaulted his legs, distracting him partially from his throbbing head.

Eventually, the feeling returned to his legs and he stealthily crept to the door, peering into the corridor he heard the sound of pans and pots coming from the room at the end. The house was well-decorated, albeit lacking in furniture, as if it was a house that someone had just moved into. Pale- blue covered the walls and the floor was hardwood.

He crept step by step towards the source of the racket, wincing every time his 'grace' caused the floor to creak. As he neared the door, the sounds of clinking plates got louder. Craning his neck, he finally got his first look at the unknown aggressor. The first thing he noticed was the cascading blond hair, that seemed almost ethereal, and apparently she had.

She hummed gently as she worked, her hands a blur as she swirled contents in a bowl. A paisley apron covered her from her shoulders to her calves and this seemed strange to chuck, who wears an apron to kidnap someone? Her shoulders swayed slightly at the motions her hands made and her tanned skin reminded Chuck greatly of Sarah.

"Turn already," Chuck mumbled, getting impatient of waiting. All he needed was a glance, a flash of her face and he would flash. Unconsciously, his foot started to tap, he noticed only a second too late. Two beats, two small beats and her shoulders instantly tensed.

She spun around, a flurry of golden locks masking her identity for another agonizing few seconds. Chuck gasped, Sarah… It was Sarah.

"Hi Chuck." She said that as if nothing was wrong, it was just another day at some random house. Her smile lit up the room and even though there were specks of flour in her hair and stains on her apron, she looked like a goddess.

_ Damn…_


	9. Chapter 9

"Uhm, Sarah…" Chuck started and then stopped, unsure of what to say. What in the world do you say to a girl you love that kidnaps you? Stumbling, he grabbed onto a chair to stabilize himself. A frown formed onto Sarah's forehead and she set her mixing bowl onto the stainless steel counter top. Disbelief filled Chuck from head to toe. Of course, the signs had all been there, it was only his foolish reluctance to accept the truth that fueled his continuous denial.

"Are you alright honey?" she asked, slightly concerned at his sudden disposure. It took a few seconds in Chuck's dazed state for the full effect of Sarah's words to sink in.

"W – Wait, honey?" he questioned, one eyebrow raised. Her reaction definitely wasn't what he had expected, she simply smiled. This was strange even for Sarah, she never used terms of endearment unless they were in public and they're cover needed maintaining. After inspecting him for a few more seconds, she turned back to her 'work'.

"I'm making breakfast," she announced in a sing-song voice. Chuck's face brightened at this, he didn't notice just how long it had been since he'd last eaten. The scent of freshly fried bacon, orange juice and golden-brown toast only accentuated his hunger. Eagerly, he reached over to grab a slice of toast only to be rewarded with a slap on the back of his hand.

"Mhm – mm…" she mused cheekily, and then blocked his path to the food, closed her eyes and presented her cheek to him. Unfortunately, Chuck was not well-versed in the art of relationships and Sarah's actions confused him severely. Puzzled, he did what every other guy in the world would do when presented with an unfamiliar situation, nothing.

Five minutes of waiting later, Sarah's eyes creaked open. She huffed and cleared her throat, "Ahem?" The ignorance on Chuck's face aggravated her further and she turned around and continued mixing, albeit much fiercer than before. Blobs of a doughy-like substance spilled over the rim of the bowl from her vigorous stirring and formed little puddles on the clean counter top.

"What?" Chuck asked, sensing her displeasure.

"Nothing" she growled hostilely.

Chuck remained silent after her reply, he opted to stand up and wrap his arms around her. She jumped at his touch and attempted to break free, refusing to let him off that easily. His arms held firm and she couldn't break through, although it must be said that her struggles seemed rather half-hearted.

"Mhm – mm…" he said, intentionally copying her earlier reply. A chuckle escaped her lips and Chuck knew all was forgiven. She turned to face him and kissed him on his nose. The shock from the kiss blew Chuck's mind. It had been chaste and quick, a mere peck on his nose but to him it was perfect.


	10. Chapter 10

The new couple enjoyed a quiet feast of a breakfast together. Chuck sat in a folding chair and used a collapsible table to eat. Sarah although had the option of seating in her own chair, decided instead to sit in Chuck's lap. This elicited a fair number of questioning looks from Chuck, but he let it slide. After the meal, the happy couple walked into what had to be Sarah's room as it was the only one that was furnished.

"Okay Sarah, not that this wasn't nice or anything, but what is going on?" he blurted out. Her face fell at his words and a pang of sadness spread throughout his body. Both corners of her lips tilted downwards slightly, the twinkle in her eyes dimmed and her shoulders drooped just a fraction.

"I made a choice." Her tone was serious now; there was no hint of the playful Sarah from before. It was like talking to a whole new person. The tone she adopted was firm and solid; leaving absolutely no room for questioning.

"What do you mean you made a choice? I was supposed to get killed today and god damn it I am. "He said, matching her tone perfectly. He then stood up and headed for the door. Before he reached the door, Sarah stepped in front of him.

Her nostrils were flared and her eyes screamed, 'shoot to kill'. The ferocity in her look startled Chuck and he nearly stepped back. "I said I made a choice. From now on, I am going to be stuck to you like glue and if you even think of sneaking off while I'm not around, I am going to handcuff you to the bed for the next ten years!"

Chuck was definitely scared now, not for himself though, no matter how mad Sarah got she'd never hurt him. No, he was scared for her, she had given up everything for him, what if she came to regret it one day, this was a decision that was permanent. Chuck walked back to her bed and sat down, feeling its springs compress under his weight. Think logically Chuck, he thought.

If he did not show up for the 'appointment' today, General Beckman, whom already hated him, would assume that he chickened out. The next thing that she would assume is that he decided to go with the second option and live with either Casey or Sarah. Once she found out that he was not with Casey, she would assume that he was safe with Sarah. In other words, to save Sarah, he had to get word to Beckman now.

"Uhm…" Chuck looked sheepish as he asked this, hoping that his face wasn't too easy to read. "Since I'm staying here, maybe I could take a shower?" He looked up to see if Sarah had guessed his real intentions. All he wanted was some time alone; he needed to formulate a plan and to do that he couldn't have Sarah breathing down his neck every second.

She studied him for a few seconds before grabbing his hand and leading him to the second door in the corridor. "Yes…" Chuck cheered. The bathroom was tiled from ceiling to floor; there was a small sink with a mirror and a tap. One interesting thing was that the bathtub in the bathroom was huge; it could easily fit two people. "I guess she likes a big tub," He thought.

He proceeded to close the door only to find Sarah's extended foot blocking the door from closing completely. He raised an eyebrow questioningly and received a smirk in reply. The awkwardness of the room rose tenfold as Sarah's hands reached down tantalizingly slow towards the hem of her shirt…


	11. Chapter 11

"Sarah! What are you doing?" Chuck shrieked with an unusually high voice. Seeing her strip in front of him caused the blood to rush towards his face faster than it could leave. This turned his face a violent shade of red. "Stop that now!" he screamed gesturing to her body.

"Why?" Sarah asked playfully. She then proceeded to lift the rim of her shirt up several inches higher. Chuck gasped and ran over to grab her hands to stop their wildly inappropriate actions. Unfortunately, his hands weren't even close to being fast enough to stopping hers. In a flash, her arms stopped lifting her shirt up and grabbed his hands instead.

"Is it because…you want to take my clothes off yourself?" She then used his hands to pull her shirt off. This proved much harder than expected as Chuck's hands refused to cooperate. No matter what she did, she could not get Chuck's hand to hook around the rim of her shirt.

"Come on Chuck, help me out here." She exclaimed, frustrated.

"No let go off my hands!" Chuck retorted. He then furiously tried to pull away, causing the couple to tumble onto the floor.

"A little hasty aren't you?" Sarah asked naughtily. Chuck flushed and found that his hands were firmly wedged in Sarah's shirt – a little too high for comfort. He gasped and started to pull them out but failed as Sarah used her entire body weight to prevent that from happening. Then something disturbing started happening, Sarah started to moan – loudly.

Her tongue darted out and licked her lips, making them shiny and moist. This emphasized her cherry-red lips even more. "Sarah stop." Chuck said in what he hoped was a firm tone. He watched as the blonde angel, now more of a devil, pouted before getting off of him. Chuck slowly retrieved his hands from her shirt. "Thank you"

He then stepped out of the bathroom, declaring it an unsafe zone, before heading towards the front door. "Wait Chuck, where are you going?" she cried out behind him. Ignoring her pleas, he continued. As he passed the door way of the house, a fierce blow fell upon his head, rendering him instantly unconscious.

"Not again…" Chuck mumbled before falling to his feet. Behind his crumpled frame, stood Sarah with a large metal saucepan in her arms. Soft shakes rippled through the black rusted cooking utensil. Sarah tried to calm herself down; she didn't hit Chuck that hard did she? I mean Chuck's tough, then again he did recently experience minor head trauma.

Tears trickled down her eyes, ruining the smoky eye shadow she had put on just for Chuck. How could Chuck be so blind? She had been sending signals to him for ages, flirty little winks, gentle nudges and even free yogurt!

Also, ever since Chuck said red wasn't his color; she had gone home and threw out anything close to red. That caused her half of her wardrobe, amounting to hundreds even thousands of dollars. She even requested for extra-short skirts for her cover uniform and the thinnest shirt in the world. This charade earned her quite a few dirty looks, but she didn't mind, not as long as it gained her even one look from Chuck. Sadly, he was too much of a gentleman to even ogle at her for a second. This greatly worried her, she was worried that not only was she losing her effect on him but she was losing him entirely.

After all, Chuck had more than his fair share of suitors, Jill, Lou, Hannah and Carina. All a bunch of bimbo brunettes, who said bimbos had to be blond?


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry, recently I have received some comments that I am not making Chuck enough of a 'guy' because of his continuous resistance to Sarah's wiles, some of you have got the idea that Chuck is gay. Just saying he isn't. I am going to try and redirect the story line back to my original idea. Please also try to forgive me for making Sarah so 'slutty'. Also, my chapters will be longer now(cause of other reviews).**

Chuck awoke in Sarah's bedroom again, "Got to stop getting hit on the head." A sense of restriction woke him from his drowsiness as he turned to look at what was holding his hand back. Silver metal handcuffs tied his right arm to the bed frame. Instantly, he pulled against it, almost to check if it was real. The handcuffs clinked as he repeatedly tugged at them.

'It's pointless," a voice said from a corner of the room. Chuck swerved his head around and saw Sarah sitting in a sliding chair in a corner of the room. "Those are CIA issue, impossible to break," she continued. Chuck's breath sped up quickly as Sarah stood up and walked towards him.

"Ha ha, good one Sarah now let me go," he tried forcibly injecting the amused tone into his voice. Sarah neglected to answer his question and instead continued to watch Chuck. Something in her silence sent shivers down Chuck's spine. He squirmed under her piercing gaze. It was times like this that he preferred Sarah in her agent setting, when she was like this, no one was safe.

The silence continued for another minute. The couple stayed, perfectly motionless, staring one another in the eye. Fear welled up inside Chuck, manifesting itself into an inner pressure that threatened to burst out at the slightest chance. Finally, Chuck could stand no more, ignoring her petulant gaze; he slid the handcuffs along the frame of the bed and started looking for the key. Maybe this was a test, maybe Sarah was just trying to see how he would react to capture.

After searching every inch of a meter radius around Sarah's bed, Chuck decided to give up. Worst come to worst, he would just dehydrate to death. It was a slow death, definitely a painful one, but a death none the less. Pleased with his decision, he resolved to lie on her bed and cross his…well arm.

Sarah watched him intently, convinced that he was not going to run off, she turned around and left leaving him with an even more puzzled look on his face. She was just going to leave? Something smells fishy…

Practicing what Casey often preached: when you find yourself in a compromised position, always take the time to absorb your surroundings. The smallest things could save your life; from the number of paintings on the wall to the color of the wallpaper, no detail was useless.

The room was classy, in its centre stood a king-sized bed with beige sheets, on the left side of the bed was a large wooden cabinet and opposite that was a simple table. Cream-colored wallpaper covered the walls and the floor was carpeted, unlike the rest of the house. Something was buzzing at the back of Chuck's mind, a painfully obvious fact that somehow eluded him. Chuck closed his eyes, centering his thoughts. Then it hit him, he'd seen Sarah's apartment and if this was not Sarah's house, where was he?

Time passed slowly as Chuck waited for Sarah to return. He spent the time looking for any clue to where he might be, a letter perhaps or any form of official documents. But there was nothing, the room did not even have pictures, let alone papers. In fact, if not for the furniture, there was no evidence that the room even had a tenant.

Eventually, Sarah returned holding in her arms a pizza box. Chuck recognized the pizza box from the one he and Sarah always ordered from. This comforted Chuck; at least he was still in Burbank. Escape would have been much harder if he was in an entirely different country.

"Sarah… how long are you going to keep me chained here?" Her eyes intentionally avoided meeting his and behind them he could see that this was hurting her as much as it was hurting him. Maybe even more.

"It'll end as soon as you tell Beckman that you've chosen to stay with me and not go to D.C to get killed," Sarah said this quickly, her anger flaring up.

"Then I guess I'm going to be here a while." Chuck said with absolute confidence. For once, he was not afraid of her, he was not afraid to say what he wanted. There were some things that he just could not allow.

"Actually, it's going to happen a lot quicker than you would expect," she began, "I've got Casey working on a fake e-mail that's going to be sent to Beckman in your name." Chuck's jaw dropped, there's no way that was true right? I mean Beckman is from the NSA, they must have some sort of fake e-mail detector.

A loud buzzing noise appeared, it was Sarah's handphone ringing on the table. The black I-phone shook violently, almost as if growling. She reached over to pick it up, setting the unopened pizza box on the table.

"Agent Walker secure…yes…he is with me…yes, I do understand." Curiosity got the better of Chuck and he shifted across the bed hoping to get a better clue as to who Sarah was talking to. Whoever it was, it must have been someone important. Sarah's voice was one of total seriousness; there was no hint of humor whatsoever.

Sarah put down the phone and strode towards Chuck. Air refused to obey Chuck as he struggled to catch his breath. It felt like he was literally choking on the suspense of what she was going to do. As her hands approached, his eyes subconsciously squeezed shut. He heard a 'click' sound and the clang of metal. Opening his eyes warily, he found that he was no longer bound to the bed. Blood rushed to his right arm, creating a pin-like sensation. A rosy color returned to his fingertips and he could finally feel things again.

"Now that Beckman's taken care of, its time you had a tour of our new house." Chuck gasped, new house? Springs voiced out their dissent as he rose from the bed. "Welcome to our new life together." She said, flashing him a warm smile.


	13. Chapter 13

A new life together… It was amazing that four simple words could be put together in a way that their combined meaning baffled Chuck. That sentence was so foreign, so forbidden and yet so welcome. Chuck's dream was coming through. A life with Sarah, a normal life without the CIA or government or god forbids it spies. Dreams of this often haunted Chuck, dreams that seemed so real they were almost like visions of the future. And now, it was actually happening; he was here with her.

"Where are we?" Chuck asked curiously. He meant it as a question in both literal and philosophical ways.

"Home." replied Sarah before realizing that he had wanted an address. "Twelve Elmwood drive." Twelve Elmwood drive – a dream for Chuck and a nightmare for Sarah. Chuck knew, this house was not a home it was a prison that the government had thrown the two of them in. From the parquet flooring to the wallpaper it was all a ruse, they might as well have been thrown into a prison cell with a cold stone floor.

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Sarah hopefully. Chuck had not moved since she told him their residence's address, he just stood there face contorted in a cocktail of emotions.

"It's a prison." The words left Chuck's mouth without any strength; it was barely beyond a murmur. The strength that had got him through every mission; every test and every setback had deserted him. It felt as though the very will was being sucked out of his soul leaving nothing behind but a carcass. At least in the past everything he had to endure had one common consolation, at least he always knew that no matter what he always did the right thing.

"Excuse me?" Sarah said, obviously taking offence in Chuck's harsh words. "A prison? This is a home Chuck, our home. And like it or not, it's where we'll be living for the better part of the rest of our lives. Is this house so repulsive that you find it a prison? Or is it me, am I such a terrible person that you have to treat being under the same roof as me a punishment."

Her eyes blazed with anger, staring at Chuck in an attempt to burn him to the ground. Chuck's face remained pensive; to him this was not real. This was a result of the severe head trauma that he recently suffered. She did not exist nor did the house for that matter; it was all a figment of his imagination. So much did he believe that, that he began walking around touching every surface admiring how real everything felt. This exacerbated Sarah's rage and she was one push away from grabbing a knife from the kitchen and throwing straight through his head. Gritting her teeth to restraint herself, she stormed out of the room into a very unfortunate kitchen.

It took Chuck exactly three minutes to realize that this was not a dream and that he had just pissed off one of the world's deadliest woman. He gulped. Inside the kitchen he saw a very disturbing sight, Sarah Walker was washing dishes. Spots of dirt were being over-zealously scrubbed off by the yellow sponge in Sarah's hand. Drops of water splattered onto her dress each time she used the sink to wash off the thick lather of soap on a plate.

"Sarah, don't" he whispered, reaching over to stop her.

"What now Chuck? Does me washing dishes make you feel like you're in a prison too? Forgive me for thinking that you would want to eat on clean plates." She screeched and then proceeded to scrub the porcelain plate she was holding with increased vigor. Chuck was speechless; he did go overboard with calling the place a prison. Making her feel like a warden was uncalled for, especially considering what she had already given up for him. Not wanting to worsen the situation, Chuck left the kitchen and returned to Sarah's bedroom. He decided that she needed time to cool off, and since she could no longer go off to a shooting range and annihilate a few targets washing dishes might help her abate some of that pent up fury.

Noticing that there was still one room he had not checked out yet, he decided to explore it lest there be another surprise in stall for him. The room was filled with boxes, large brown cardboard ones to be exact. In fact they looked like the kind people used when they moved. Large pieces of wood stood in one corner wrapped in a plastic coat. Chuck could tell that it was probably the parts of his new bed frame. Not seeing a better way to kill time, he grabbed a penknife off a table and began assembling it.

He was about halfway through when he heard someone knock on the door behind him. Twisting his head he saw Sarah standing somewhat uncomfortably at his doorway. "You should come to bed, it's getting late." she said gingerly as if she never expected herself to say those particular words. It did sound strange coming from her.

A large grey shirt stretched from her neck to the middle of her thighs. Her usually neatly combed hair was now ruffled, covering a fair bit of her face which was clear of makeup. Her hands had large red marks on them as a result of the excessively immaculate washing of the dishes previously. Dark bags hung from her eyes, she stood with a small stoop in her back and she supported herself with the frame of the door.

"Okay." Brushing off the powdered wood that had gotten onto his clothes, he stood up. He stretched for a second, releasing the stiffness in his joints and then followed Sarah into her bedroom. Inside, she went straight for her bed jumping into its warm embrace. Chuck on the other hand began to pick up a pillow and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" asked Sarah coyly. She had propped herself up on her elbows and angled her head to stare at him.

"Couch." He said matter-of-factly. Sleeping together in the same bed just did not appeal to Chuck today. Things were still too tense between them.

"I don't have an extra blanket; you'll freeze to death on the couch." Chuck rolled his eyes at how melodramatic she was being. This was Burbank, he could sleep outside naked and he would not freeze. A sarcastic remark was halfway out his throat when he noticed how tired she looked. Not physically tired but more psychologically tired. She stared at him for another moment expecting a reply. When none came, she simply crawled under her blanket and patted the space beside her.

Hesitantly, Chuck climbed into her bed. Pulling the blanket up to his neck, he noticed that she was surreptitiously shifting closer and closer to him. As per the laws of physics, this caused an equal and opposite reaction from Chuck. Every centimeter she shifted towards him, he shifted one away from her. Soon he was at the edge of the bed, and she was still coming.

Admitting defeat he allowed her to finally reach him. Despite the lack of light, Chuck could have sworn he saw her smirk. She rested her head on his chest, reached over to hug his waist and squeezed one leg between his. "The blanket is really really small, so we just have to sleep close together." She justified, answering the question Chuck was just about to ask.

He was so uncomfortable, not literally though, literally he was extremely comfortable. No, he was uncomfortable in the "Oh my god, I am lying in the same bed as my ex." way. Unconsciously, this caused him to lie unnaturally rigid, ellicting a moan from Sarah. "Why are you so stiff?" she slurred. She then tried to cuddle even closer to him, burying her head under his neck. When Chuck still did not respond, she used her hands to grab Chuck's and wrap them around her. Only then did she take a huge breath and relaxed into a deep sleep.

"Tomorrow is going to be super interesting." Chuck dreaded.


	14. Chapter 14

Chuck woke up alone. This was rare; usually when Sarah and him slept together he was normally the one that awoke first. Alarm bells rang in his head and he quickly sat up to check whether she had handcuffed him again. Thankfully it seemed that she had kept to her word; now that Beckman no longer wanted Chuck dead, Chuck was no longer a prisoner in this house. The warm covers and soft pillows increased the temptation of sleep but he got up anyway. Today was going to be way too interesting to spend in bed.

His sense of smell led him to the kitchen, the heavenly aromas of bacon, eggs and toast being his guide. Sarah, hearing Chuck's footsteps, was anxious. Before she initiated her 'plan', she had done quite a bit of research. Consulting Ellie on Chuck's ideal girlfriend had been anything but easy. It had taken every bit of CIA interrogation training to squeeze the information out of Ellie…

_"Hey Sarah, what a surprise." Said Ellie with genuine surprise, Sarah almost never came over alone. "Chuck's not here…"_

_ "Oh no I came here to see you actually." Ellie stepped back to allow Sarah in. Sarah smiled gratefully and entered. After Ellie got the two of them drinks, they settled on the couch._

_ "So what did you want to talk about?" Ellie asked brightly. The two of them hardly spent any time together after Ellie's wedding and Ellie was willing to take any girl time she could get._

_ "I…" Suspicion built up in Ellie, Sarah was never nervous it was one of the reasons why she was so compatible with Chuck – they were almost opposites. "I wanted to know what Chuck looks for in a girl." Sarah finished looking quite relieved to get that off her chest._

_ "Is that it?" Ellie asked with a slight laugh. "Sarah you don't have to worry about that. My gosh was I nervous for a second. You and Chuck get along so well, why would you even ask that? Did he say something, ooh… I'm going to kill him." She said with a stern tone._

_ "Oh no, it's not anything he did or said" Sarah reassured hastily. "It's just I want to make him happy, and maybe get him to move in with me?' she added knowing Ellie could not resist anything that might get Chuck and Sarah married._

_ "Well… I should let things take its course." Ellie reasoned; the urge to spill her information on chuck evident in her tone .Before this encounter, Devon had repeatedly nagged Ellie to stay out of Chuck's love life. Sarah frowned for a moment but quickly wiped it off her face. Sarah diverted the conversation away towards other casual topics all the while dropping subtle questions of Chuck's preferences._

_ "And anyways, I know the two of you are so close, you must know something about him?" Sarah prompted. "I would have loved to have you as a maid of honor." She said that last sentence softly to make it seem as if she had not meant for Ellie to hear it. Sarah knew playing the maid of honor card was low but Chuck was worth it._

_ "Oh… alright," Ellie relented. Sarah beamed, mission successful._

"Let's see if I got everything." She thought to herself. Ellie had told her that Chuck loved someone who took the trouble to cook for him. For that, Sarah had to force herself to leave Chuck's comfy embrace at an ungodly hour just to come down and prepare breakfast. It was a lot of work and Chuck's embrace almost made her give up but she was not an agent for nothing.

"Next thing, attire." She recalled. Ellie had listed down Chuck's favorite colors and Sarah almost did a spit take when red appeared on the list. For him, she had worn a sky-blue blouse with white pants and a red apron to cook with. There was not a trace of makeup on her face, her hair was let down and intentionally ruffled.

One of the biggest things that Sarah had learnt from her visit to Ellie was that Chuck did not like it when a girl wore fancy dresses all the time. Once in a while is fine but every day is just too much, was her exact words. Sipping a cup of freshly brewed coffee, Sarah leaned back and relaxed. Everything was perfect.

Chuck walked into the kitchen and sat down at the collapsible table and watched Sarah. She was dressed in his favorite colors, red, white and blue. Patriotic to say the least, it would have been the one thing that Casey would have admired him for. Sarah was content letting Chuck stare; it was what she did this for anyway. However, his staring stopped a little too quickly for her liking.

Irritated, she stepped over to Chuck and sat in his lap again. "We have to go shopping today." she announced.

"For what?" asked Chuck defensively. If there was one thing that Chuck could not stand it was shopping. Well unless that shopping was for video games then he did not mind one bit, but the odds of that happening was less than zero with Sarah.

"Sarah gestured around her and said, "Furniture for one. Although I do like the way this table gives me easy access to your lap."

Chuck gulped noticeably and nodded his head. "Great," she mused. She then added, "Oh and come to bed after you're done eating. You owe me some cuddling for cooking breakfast." She then stood up and walked off towards their bedroom. Ellie did mention that Chuck liked cuddling.

Chuck finished breakfast and threw the dishes into the dishwasher. The mechanical whirring of the washer eased off a bit of Chuck's tension and he wondered why Sarah had opted to wash the dishes by hand the previous night. Waiting for the dishes to come out also gave Chuck the perfect excuse to stay in the kitchen a while longer.

After putting the dishes away, he no longer had an excuse to stay in the kitchen. His time in the kitchen alone had given him the time he needed to get his thoughts straight. He had even constructed a speech to give to Sarah. "The charade ends now." He thought.

Stepping into the room, Sarah beat him to the first words. "What took you so long?" she asked accusingly. Sarah had taken off her apron in the kitchen and was left in her blue blouse and pants. The blanket hid her lower body and her hair was sprayed over the pillow.

"I did the dishes." He replied simply. "And I think it's time we had a talk." Sarah's body stiffened at his words, this was definitely a conversation she was trying to avoid.

"About what?" she asked a little sadly.

"This. All of this." He answered gesturing to everything around him. "I want to know why you're acting like that. Why you're not being Sarah?"

Every syllable he said was like a scratch to her, it hurt just a little at first but never stopped stinging. She took her time with her reply, contemplating every word. "Isn't this what you always wanted?" she returned.

"Well…yes" He had to admit that this was indeed what he hoped to have one day.

Before he could counter, Sarah decided to take the offensive and continued; "Well now you've got it. We're stuck together for the next ten years so I just thought to try and make this work. I'm sorry if that has offended you in anyway."

Chuck's shoulder's sagged. "It is what I've always wanted," he agreed, "But not if you were forced to do it."

"We're already together, does it matter why?" she cried.

"Yes." That was it, end of conversation. Chuck crawled underneath the covers of their bed to join Sarah and pulled her into a tight embrace. She was still a little stupefied from Chuck's reply to respond to the hug. Eventually though, the shock passed and she squeezed into him tightly.

"Do you actually like cuddling?" Chuck asked suddenly. Sarah looked up at him inquisitively with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, why would you even ask that?" she asked amused.

"You think I haven't realized that you talked to Ellie?" A ferocious blush appeared on Sarah's cheeks.

"Why Chuck Bartowski…you're quite the spy aren't you?" she said playfully.


	15. Chapter 15

Cuddling time had to come to an end, although Sarah was very insistent on prolonging the cuddling for as long as possible. In fact, if both their stomachs had not started to rumble in protest the cuddling might have gone on for the entire day.

"Sarah don't you think it's time to go shopping?" he asked. Normally Chuck would have been all for cuddling but his body was starting to ache from being in the same position too long.

"No!" Sarah replied defiantly. She then began coiling herself around Chuck, using her long slender arms like ropes to tie him down. Soon each of Chuck's limbs was securely held in place. Every move Chuck tried to make only caused Sarah to moan and wrap him up even tighter.

"Sarah…" Chuck droned. Using every ounce of his strength Chuck desperately tried to push Sarah off.

"Ow!" he cried, rubbing his neck on the spot Sarah had bit him.

"Try to leave again and there'll be blood." Sarah warned huskily.

"But Sarah… we got to get up." he moaned. Neglecting her protests he steadily started to pull away from her. The absence of pain gave Chuck the false sense of success until a heavy weight on his back brought him back to Earth. Sarah had taken advantage of her new found position to climb and cling onto Chuck's back. Two strong hands attached themselves to Chuck's shoulders and two firm legs straddled his waist.

"Come on… Sarah…" he begged. His answer was a flurry of blond hair buffeting him in the face as Sarah vigorously shook her head. Chuck sighed and propped her legs up with his arms, "Then I'm just going to have to carry you around."

Sarah's eyes widened at Chuck's words. Supporting her on his back, he broke into a sprint towards the front door. His footsteps clattered harshly against the wood of the floor but were overshadowed by her laughs and cries of joy.

Panting, he came to a stop in front of Sarah's Porsche. "You're out of shape. We are definitely going running together." She teased. Short, sporadic gasps of air prevented him from constructing a comeback.

When the blood had finally departed from his face and his breath returned, his mind began formulating a reply. He retrieved his hands from his knees and faced Sarah. A solemn expression formed on his face; his eyes enlarged; both corners of his lips took a downwards turn. Sarah had to admit when she saw Chuck's expression, her heart fell. At that moment, she would have probably agreed to anything he said. There was an urge deep inside her to cradle his face in her arms and just whisper that everything's going to be alright.

"Sarah…" he growled in a throaty voice. Her knees shook for a second when he said her name in that alluring voice. The momentary pause he took was painstakingly long. "I think you've gained weight." He joked finally.

Her initial reaction was relief, for a second she thought that he was having second thoughts about her. Soon, however, her relief turned into aggravation. "I can't believe you, I was genuinely worried." She slapped him on the arm and he whimpered, contorting his facial expression to over-dramatize the pain. An apology was at the tip of her tongue when she spied him fighting a grin. "Chuck Bartowski!" she roared.

He gulped and ferociously tried to enter the car, as if that would have saved him from her wrath. The silver door refused to budge and he twisted around to see her stalking towards him, hands on her hips. "Sa-Sarah ta-take it e-easy." he stammered, hoping to appease her quelling anger. His hands were raised slightly in a calming fashion.

"So…" she said in a low voice. "You think I'm fat?"

"Technically, I didn't say that." he answered defensively.

"But you think I'm heavy?" she asked again.

"Sarah…" Chuck begged, "It was just a joke… I definitely don't think you're fat – or heavy for that matter."

"Humph." She huffed clearly still riffled by his comment.

Sarah took out her key and unlocked the doors before entering. Chuck followed suit and she took them out of their front porch. They drove for about fifteen minutes in deadly silence. Throughout the ride Chuck felt as if even saying a word now would shatter the universe. The tension was palpable.

They pulled over in front of an enormous store. It was one of those giant departmental stores that had just about one of every store on earth. You had to know where you were going because parking at the wrong car park would entail a long walk. Chuck exited the car quickly, not wanting to be near Sarah for a moment longer. Sarah took her time, she slowly fished for her keys in her handbag and when she found them locked to car and set off at a brisk pace.

Chuck followed a safe distance behind Sarah, and by safe distance he meant a good twenty feet away from her. 'Together' they entered the departmental store. Sarah seemed to know where she was heading and Chuck was just glad to follow her. First thing on the list was to solve their aching hunger. They ate at a food court and Chuck kept looking at Sarah's face for any signs of emotion. No luck there, her face was utterly blank.

After lunch they headed towards the long line of furniture shops. Chuck found this to be an extremely strange concept, how would being next to shops that sell the exact same thing good for business. Lines of shops ran down the corridor, each store had dozens of chairs, tables and pretty much anything you could find in a house.

Sarah nonchalantly dived through the sliding glass planes of a shop with Chuck straggling behind. A sea of furniture stood before Chuck. It seemed that the shop's theme was comfort. Homely lamps bathed the shop in a warm glow. The absence of large imposing industrial lights was much appreciated.

After lunch Chuck had mustered the courage to actually stand and walk beside Sarah. She had not seemed to mind his presence and he took that as a good sign. Unfortunately, the silence between them continued. They browsed a few decent pieces but nothing really struck their fancy. Well that is until, they found a disgusting looking couch. It was a mess of colors, in fact it looked like a first-grader had found this couch and there just happened to be buckets of paint around.

Sarah on the other hand loved it. She practically squealed when her eyes chanced upon it. "Chuck! It perfect." she squealed excitedly.

"Yea…" he tried uneasily.

"Let's get it." she decided. Chuck balked, that was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Heck he was pretty sure he could design a sofa better than that one. There was absolutely no way he was letting Sarah get that sofa. Nothing on earth could convince him that that sofa was worth getting. They should be paying him for taking it off their hands.

"Well, you see Sarah… it's just that there are so many sofas and we should probably see them all before deciding." He finished pleased with his argument.

"Chuck… do you like it?" she asked suspiciously. Her question put him in a difficult spot, on one hand saying how he really felt would aggravate her further, on the other saying yes means looking at that sofa every day, the choice was clear.

"I think it's really colorful." he declared. Apparently the answer was go for neutral so she will not kill you.

"Okay, but do you like it?" she repeated. That just drove him right back into the corner.

"I definitely find it creative?" he said more as a question than a statement.

"But do you like it?" she asked yet again. By now her voice was stern and she was literally stepping towards him and pushing him back.

"Uh…er…well Sarah did I tell you that you look lovely today." He attempted to ease her off the topic but she of course was too sharp to allow him to escape answering.

"Thanks, now do you like it?" her voice came out as a growl now, daring him to say no.

Not knowing what to say to allay her anger, he did the one thing he knew would never be seen as the wrong thing to do. He kissed her on the lips. Surprise was an understatement to Sarah's reactions. Astoundment was probably a more accurate description. She was so shocked that her hands discreetly slipped down to the strap on her thigh that held her throwing knives.

However, once the original amazement passed though, Sarah started to really get into the kiss. Kissing was one of the few things that Chuck had always been good at; his lips were warm and inviting. When he failed to deepen it, Sarah took the initiative and used her tongue to pry open Chuck's lips. Teasingly, he pursed his lips close denying Sarah any access. This forced her to grab the sides of his face with her hands and tilt it to allow her a better angle to put more pressure on his lips. The harder she tried to deepen the kiss, the tighter he sealed his lips.

Sarah let out a frustrated moan and released Chuck. The two of them took a second to regain their breaths before Sarah dived in to the fray once again, determined to gain access into Chuck's mouth. This time she hopped onto him, straddling his waist with her legs and wrapping his neck with her arms. Her lips pushed and tugged but try as she might, Chuck's resistance proved strong. His lips remained firmly shut. A forbidden fruit to her Eve.

"Chuck…" she groaned breathlessly once they parted again.

"Whew, that was some kiss." he wheezed, blinking slightly.

"It could have been…" she whispered lightly onto Chuck's ear.

"Sarah…" he warned. "This is a public place and I'm still not too comfortable with public displays of affection."

"Oh really?" she asked before crashing lips with him again. Chuck did not have the time to steel himself and Sarah managed to force her tongue into Chuck's mouth. Her tongue ventured slowly at first but quickly sped up, bent on memorizing every nook and cranny of Chuck's mouth.

"Mhmm… that's better." she sighed after they separated, a contented smile sprayed over her face.

"Get used to it." she teased. Chuck groaned, if such wild unreserved displays of affection were going to be common occurrences, this life together was going to be tough.

"I think we need to set some boundaries." he declared.

"Oh?" She raised one eyebrow and glanced at him.

"Yea, like what we cannot do in public and…" he began but promptly got cut off.

"Well, if you're going to restrict me in public, our bedroom activity is going to have to be much more intense." she said before licking his earlobe suggestively.

"I was going to say and in the bedroom." he finished.

"I agree, firstly we have to make love at least four times a week." she said turning the tables on Chuck.

"Four times?" he exclaimed. "I think four is a bit too much don't you think Sarah?"

"Well if you would prefer six, I'm alright with it."

"No, no, how about once every fortnight?" he ventured timidly.

"Once a fortnight?" she yelled attracting several curious gazes. "You do realize I'm a hot blond that gets turned on by simply being in the same country as you right?"

"Really, just being in the same country as me turns you on?" he questioned incredulously.

"Chuck, I haven't done it for years. If you even touch my waist, for your sake there had better be a bed around. Speaking of which, you kissed me – hard. And what's more, we're surrounded by beds." she murmured sultrily.

"Well, unless you want to be the most popular video on youtube, that'll have to wait."

"Humph, fine but when we get home, no excuses. I want you ready and waiting." she instructed. She then pulled on his hand and led him towards their car.

"Wait,now? What about furniture shopping?" Chuck asked.

"You shouldn't have kissed me." she said simply as if that was a reasonable argument.

"What about that sofa?"

"What sofa?" she asked. Chuck cheered; he was a better spy than he thought. Now he finally understood why seduction missions came out so frequently, they were definitely useful. He would have to remember that.


	16. Chapter 16

The drive back was tense, well tense for Chuck at least. Sarah seemed to have an excellent time feeling Chuck's legs while she drove. However, driving and, to an extent, groping is not a good combination and Chuck felt it was his duty to remind her of this - repeatedly.

"Sarah! Watch out for that truck." he screeched. This was easily the worst car ride he had ever been in. The prospect of 'it' seemed to have spurred Sarah on to be extra reckless in her driving, not that she had ever been the safest of drivers to start with. She had narrowly avoided two collisions and that was just in the car park alone. Now that they were on the highway back the risk of accidents had increased exponentially.

"Don't worry Chuck. If I was you, I'd be more worried about the things we're going to do at home." she gave Chuck's inner thigh a particularly firm squeeze and suckled on her lower lip. Her eyelids dipped close and Chuck almost screamed. Driving with your eyes close is never a good idea.

"Sarah, car, car. Sarah!" Chuck screamed frantically as he wildly pointed to a black Toyota that Sarah had almost ran into.

"Relax honey, do you think I would honestly let anything happen to you now that I'm going to get laid. The Ring itself probably couldn't have stopped me." Sarah's eyes had opened now and her gaze casually alternated between Chuck and the road. Although, it seemed to stay on Chuck much too long for comfort.

"Okay that's it. If you don't focus on your driving, no sex." Chuck stated firmly. As hardened as he sounded, he was actually rather shaky on the inside. He had never had the mental willpower to resist Sarah when she was really trying to seduce him. There was no way that after going through so much, Chuck was going to let them be killed by a stupid car accident.

"What?" Sarah almost veered off the road at Chuck's declaration. From then on, their Porsche never went faster than forty. It was most likely the slowest moving Porsche Burbank had ever seen. Sarah had also retrieved her hand from Chuck's legs and it was now gripping firmly onto the steering wheel. Although her mouth was closed, Chuck could tell that she was grinding her teeth together, trying in vain to ignore the vindictive protests from drivers behind. A long chain of cars had formed behind Sarah's Porsche and horns blared through the air. However, Sarah continued at a snail's pace, adamantly ignoring the fevered cries behind. "You do know that the longer you hold me back, the more wild things are going to get back at the house right?"

Chuck did not answer, he simply gulped.

Two hours of what could only be described as animalistic love making later, Sarah and Chuck remained still in their bed. "Wow that was better than I remembered it." Sarah exclaimed. Her eyes were wide and unfocused as she lay face up on the bed wistfully observing the ceiling. Her breathing was already calming as her chest rose and fell with a more controlled pace.

Chuck on the other hand had no breath left to respond to Sarah's statement. He did the only thing he could, he nodded. Truth be told, he was almost afraid of Sarah, her attitude in bed could only be described as primal. It was like some carnal instinct took her over and instead of suppressing it she embraced it.

"When you're ready for round four let me know." Sarah said patting Chuck on his chest.

"You want to go again?" Chuck gasped incredulously. He was mystified at Sarah's seemingly insatiable sexual appetite.

Sarah nodded enthusiastically, "After this, you're lucky if you see day light in the next week or so. I expect us to christen every room and every surface, and that might take a while so we'd better get started." Sarah's hand had surreptitiously slipped under their cover and was quickly headed towards Chuck's sensitive spot.

"Sarah…" Chuck warned. His hand reached down to halt her mischievous actions but it was quickly restricted from doing so by Sarah's free hand.

"Chuck, you know how the Large Mart sells everything in bulk?"

"Yeah…" Chuck answered. His thoughts were slowing down and getting jumbled at Sarah's actions below.

"Well I found out that they do that for condoms too so I went ahead and bought a pretty big pack." Chuck had been wondering where Sarah had magically pulled out so many condoms. She reached over and pulled out a large box from underneath her bedside table. The box was blue and embossed in front was the words, "Condoms 150 pack."

"You don't honestly expect us to use that many right?" Chuck joked, praying that Sarah had actually meant that as a joke. If she did not, he might not make it through the week.

"Well not in one day but certainly by the end of the month..." Sarah explained. She then plucked another thinly wrapped piece of plastic and ducked under the covers.

"Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into?" Chuck moaned as he felt her wrap him up tightly.

After another hour of slightly less rowdy love making, Chuck felt it was time to pull the plug. "Okay, stop." To emphasize this he trapped Sarah's body beneath his. Underneath him, she seemed small and frail: her eyes widened and she even whimpered slightly. Anyone else might have fallen for her vulnerable trick but Chuck knew that inside she was anything but vulnerable. Inside, Sarah was actually enjoying Chuck's sudden aggression. It kind of made her hot.

Chuck sighed and got off the bed, he walked into the kitchen praying that his sudden move was enough to stun Sarah for at least the time taken to reach the kitchen. Thankfully it was as he pulled open the fridge door without finding himself interrupted. The handle felt icily cool at his touch and was a welcomed change from the recently rise in temperature. Inside was a multitude of items, mostly picked by Sarah though, but Chuck managed to find what he was looking for, water. Three hours of doing 'it' could really dehydrate a person. He grabbed two bottles, one for him and another for Sarah, and strode back into the room.

Sarah was already sitting up when Chuck returned, he threw the bottle of water and she caught it with one hand. Twisting open the cap, she drank thirstily, finishing half the bottle at a go.

"Sarah, I think we need to talk." Chuck said somberly, talking was not in Sarah's repertoire of skills. Avoiding talking and giving vague yet suggestive answers that she was a master at.

She instantly stopped drinking, stared at him, and nodded. Crap, she thought, talking with Chuck was never good. He tended to ask extremely personal questions that no amount of training would ever prepare her for.

"Firstly, I need to know something. What exactly are we?"

"What do you mean?" Her facial expression gave away the fact that she knew exactly what he meant, she was simply putting off answering him. Which in fact was exactly what was going on; Sarah was just prolonging the inevitable.

"I mean," said Chuck taking on a more caring tone, "Where do we go from this?" He reached out and caressed Sarah's arm lightly.

"We continue being Chuck and Sarah, like we always have." Sarah hoped that this answer would appease him but her hopes were quickly dashed.

"No Sarah, you can't do this anymore." Chuck retracted his arm from Sarah's, she instantly missed the feel. "You can't keep avoiding answering the question."

"Chuck," she began weakly.

"No, you know what fine, don't give me an answer. Don't ever give me an answer for all I care, I'm sick of the constant suspense. Never knowing is really starting to wear me down. So if you're not going to answer me now, then I'm done."

"What?" she asked getting teary.

"I need to know. I need to know whether this is going to be simply a physical relationship or a real one. Am I just another Bryce to you?"

"Now listen here, don't ever compare yourself to Bryce. You are so much better than him, you're kinder, funnier, smarter and an all around greater person than he is. I never want you to ever compare yourself to him, ever. And anyone who dares to do so, I will kill them." Her words were serious and unforgiving. This was not a joke, woe to anyone who dares to compare the two again.

Chuck stiffened; he had never been so intimidated by Sarah before. Sure he had seen her look all dangerous during missions, but at least then he always knew that she would never hurt him. Now he was not so sure. Chuck's well-expressed emotions did not go unnoticed by Sarah who immediately wrapped herself around him. She held him firmly refusing to allow him to push her away. Finally after conceding that he would never win, he gave up and instead tried his best to shrink himself.

"Sorry but Bryce is a tender topic for me. But I meant what I said, you are so much better than him. Never doubt that."

"You still haven't answered my question." Chuck pointed out still hung up on that.

"Well I'm answering it now." Sarah tilted Chuck's face to face hers and she looked him clearly in the eye before saying, "I want to have a real relationship with you." Chuck broke out into a huge grin, bigger than the one that he had when he first met her, bigger than the one he had at Ellie's wedding, bigger than the one he had when he was reunited with his dad. No, this one surpassed them all; this one was bright enough to be seen from the stars. It represented all that he was feeling at that moment, all his hopes and dreams. And it would always belong to her, just like his heart and just like her heart to him.

"What about being normal? Isn't that what you always wanted? With me, you can never have that you know." she added. Chuck seemed to think about this for a long time, too long in fact. Just as Sarah was starting to worry about whether he was changing his mind, he opened his mouth and answered.

"Normal's overrated. Anyone who would choose normal over you is crazy in my book." Sarah beamed at him and they kissed.

Suddenly Sarah gasped. Chuck broke the kiss and studied her questioningly. "That was our first kiss as an official couple!" she squealed enthusiastically. Chuck laughed jovially at her; it was too cute watching her act like that. Mocking offense, she slapped him on the arm, hard.

"We should probably tell Ellie." Chuck said.

"Tell her what exactly? As far as she knows, we've been together for ages now." Sarah pointed out. Chuck nodded but was visibly disappointed. A moment later he perked up again. Just like another of his body parts, Sarah mused. One of her favorite parts of him.

"There's something I want to try."


	17. Chapter 17

I cannot believe I agreed to this, Sarah raged furiously. A completely emotional relationship, what was I thinking? Aren't new couples supposed to be doing 'it' like twenty-four seven? Sarah was not happy; happiness could be the furthest emotion from what she was feeling right now. She was pissed, in order to prove to Chuck that this was going to be a completely real relationship; he proposed that they not have sex at all until he deemed it okay. Of course she argued but all he had to do was make that puppy dog face and kiss her and she would give in to anything he asked for. And seriously of all the dirty things he could have requested, he asked for this.

_"There's something I want to try." Chuck stated, obviously pleased with himself that he managed to come up with this._

_ "What is it?" At the time, she had thought that he was going to suggest something inexplicably naughty. So she asked this in the sultriest tone possible. Chuck, hopelessly confused, arched an eyebrow and continued._

_ "I want to try not having sex for a while." He might as well have dropped a bomb on her. Heck a bomb would have been a smaller shock than what he had just said._

_ "I beg your pardon?" she nearly screamed._

_ "I said I want to not have sex for a while. I just really want to focus on the emotional side of this relationship, the side that we have been ignoring all these years. I want to woo you, to take you out, to dazzle you." he explained._

_ "Chuck, you already have me in bed, there's no need to do all that stuff." Chuck looked hurt but this was something that Sarah was not going to budge on. Momma needs her daily dose of sugar._

_ "Come on Sarah please…" Chuck then put on his best puppy dog look which involved a trembling bottom lip, a full pout and a head angled slightly down with big wide eyes._

_ "No." she stated. Sarah then turned away and tried to ignore Chuck's look but it was getting to her. Be strong, be strong, she chanted. A small whimper pulled her back. He was whining now, that was such a cheap trick. "No Chuck, just because I find you cute does not mean that a sad face will get you anything you want."_

_ "But Sarah, I care for you so much. You're the most beautiful thing in my life and it would be a crime not to let the world bask in your radiance. You're also the kindest, hottest, coolest girl I know. Please…" Chuck whined._

_ "No Chuck." Sarah exclaimed. She tried her best to maintain a stern façade but she could not stop the corners of her lips from curling up ever so slightly. He was good…_

_ Then without another word, he started kissing her neck. Her neck! That had to be deemed cheating; making her feel so good was absolutely not allowed. Sarah had to force herself to not close her eyes to better revel in the exquisite feel of his lips on her neck. Then his arms came around her, encasing her in a warm embrace. She wanted to cry out but she could not let him win, she was the seduction expert not him. _

_ "Please. Sarah. Please." He kept alternating between kisses and muttering sweet words, pleading to her his case. _

_ "N-No…" She stuttered. Biting down hard on her lower lip, she tried to resist. But she could not help herself; she was about ninety-nine percent mush in his arms. Shivers danced down her spine as he playfully nibbled on her earlobe. Crap, pull out, pull out, she thought._

_ Without warning, his lips fell upon hers. And she knew then that she was a lost cause. The simple act of brush his lips against hers was enough to eradicate all of her brain functions. She had only one thought now; give him whatever he wants as long as this continues. "Please." he whispered into her ear. His warm, moist breath cascaded against her ear causing her to gulp._

_ "Fine." she relented. And as quickly as it begun, it ended. Chuck started cheering wildly while Sarah dashed into the house for a cold shower._

So now here she was, sitting next to Chuck at Ellie's house having dinner. Two days without sex, two days had left Sarah a ball of horny, angry emotion. By now she was exiling herself from any physical contact with Chuck. Even the slightest touch, a brush against her elbow, left her turned on and wanting. What's worse she could not excuse herself to take a cold shower now so any and all contact was forbidden.

"It's so great to see you two getting serious." Ellie said brimming with joy. Ellie had been vibrating with joy since she saw the two of them.

"Really Awesome guys." Devon added.

"Thanks El, I love it too." Chuck then leaned in for a quick kiss that was much too short for Sarah. But just as she tried to deepen the kiss, Chuck retreated to his seat. This was bad, she needed a shower and she needed one now. That kiss as chaste as it had been had given her affluent emotion. The thought of doing it on the dining table in front of Ellie and Devon even crossed her mind. Although the image of that in her mind did nothing to help her leash her urges.

Chuck cleared his throat and Sarah looked to him. It turns out everyone was looking at Sarah as if expecting an answer. "I'm sorry?" she asked.

Ellie repeated her question again, "I said how do you like living with Chuck."

"Oh it's great if a little frustrating." More like intensely, unimaginably frustrating. Getting turned on just to be denied is immensely unsatisfying. In the two days this had been going on Sarah had taken fourteen baths already. She could not afford to take more as Chuck was starting to wonder if taking baths was one of her individual quirks.

"That sounds about right." Ellie nodded understandingly. Thankfully the rest of dinner passed without another hitch. But things took a turn for the worst when Ellie suggested they stay to watch a couple of movies. Chuck spread himself out on the couch so that the only place to sit was laying full body along him. Gingerly, Sarah cuddled with Chuck desperately trying to quell the heat it was giving her. Then an evil thought entered Sarah's mind, two could play at this game.

"Could I have a blanket?" she asked Chuck hopefully. He nodded and went to retrieve one from the closet. When he returned, Sarah accepted the blanket gratefully and draped it across the two of them. Only a matter of time now, she thought.

The movie on the agenda tonight was Lord of the Rings the trilogy. Sarah had seen the movie before, at Chuck's insistence of course, and had found it okay. Chuck on the other hand was a hardcore Lord of the Rings fan. Not five minutes into it and he was completely submerged into the film.

Surreptitiously Sarah reached her hand behind her towards Chuck's pants. Chuck still too engrossed in the movie failed to notice. Only when Sarah pressed her palm down on Chuck's groin did realization hit him. Slowly she rotated her arm in circles, enjoying the feeling of Chuck writhing around behind her. Chuck hurriedly whispered into her ear to stop it but she effectively silenced his protests by quietly unzipping his pants.

She took her time feeling around not applying any real pressure before pulling out. She swore that he whimpered a little when she did so. With revenge completed, she returned her attention to the movie.

Half an hour passed before she felt something on her hip. Tensing up, she craned her neck to get a better view. Chuck's hands were roaming up and down her body enjoying her curves. Sarah swore inwardly, this was bad.

"Payback time," he whispered. He then used his mouth to start kissing the back of her neck, teasing her incorrigibly. Sarah's breathing was getting ragged now, coming only in short sporadic spurts. Heat was steadily building between her thighs and was soon reaching a roaring fire.

Then Chuck went further, dipping his hands into her shirt to caress her skin. Now moaning softly, Sarah sneaked a peek at Ellie and Devon tangled up in one another on the armchair nearby. Stifling a particularly loud moan as Chuck's hands found the cups of her bra; she prayed that Ellie and Devon would not turn to stare at their favorite couple.

"Chuck," she cautioned throatily. Hearing a smirk, she then felt one of his hands leaving her shirt. Thinking that he heeded her warning she actually gasped as his hand found its way between her legs. Ellie and Devon both switched their attention to Sarah and Chuck took this as a chance to speed up his ministrations. Sarah smiled weakly at Ellie and Devon trying her best not to allow her arousal to show on her face. Sarah could not believe it but just this simple act of fondling was almost enough to get her off after the drought she went through.

As she started taking quicker and sharper breaths, he stopped. Sarah wanted to scream at him at that point, Lord of the Rings was like a six hour trilogy, they had barely gotten through half an hour of it and she already needed the coldest shower on Earth. This was utterly unacceptable; things were too far gone by that point.

"Chuck, we're leaving." Sarah growled and proceeded to stand up. Chuck's eyes widened. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, it was 'fight or flight' now. He unfortunately recognized that voice; it was the same one she used the last time they were in bed.

"But, movie." Chuck protested feebly. To emphasize his point Chuck even raised a hand to point towards the flashing screen. At this point Sarah had half a mind to forcibly drag Chuck to a bed.

With her eyes reduced to slits, she glared at Chuck and repeated, "Now, Chuck." Anger was practically emanating from her form. And to Chuck's dismay, Ellie seemed to take Sarah's side in this.

"Chuck! Go with Sarah." she yelled at Chuck. Chuck gulped, one angry woman was bad enough, two angry women was doomsday. Devon, being the mediator as usual, stood up to try and coax Ellie to cool down.

"Baby don't you think we should let them work it out on their own?" Placing added emphasis on the words 'on their own' he led Ellie back down on top of him. Ellie gruffly obliged but continued giving Chuck a sharp stare.

Chuck sighed, he did not want Devon to get in trouble with Ellie, so he agreed to go off early. Sarah laced their hand together and led him out towards her car. The moment they entered the car and the doors were closed, Sarah froze.

"Sarah?" Chuck asked warily. Sarah was a reasonable person, everything she did had a purpose, nothing was done just for the sake of it. That and being in an enclosed space with Sarah was never an enjoyable experience, claustrophobic or not.

"Honey?" Chuck tried once more to broach the impenetrable fortress of solitude that is Sarah Walker.

"Don't honey me." Sarah replied grumpily. Without uttering another word, she started up the car and drove home. An uncomfortable silence overtook the atmosphere of the car. Neither person spoke, either unwilling to end the acceptable silence or simply choosing not to.

Finally, Chuck decided that he had had enough of this. "Okay, what's wrong?" The tension in the car was suffocating.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Sarah grumbled vehemently.

"I know when something's wrong Sarah,"

"Nothing's wrong Chuck." Sarah insisted. Her voice was strained as she struggled to stop herself from maiming him.

"I know you better than that."

Damn him, he was right. Chuck always knew whenever Sarah was upset, sad or even slightly moody. A small crinkle in her eyes, a faint twitch in her lips, a ghost of a frown, they were all clues for Chuck. Besides that, he also had the most magical ability to know what to say or to do to make her feel better. It was an uncanny part of him and it only took him only a month with her to develop.

"Do you like me Chuck? Do you even remotely like me?" Sarah asked accusingly.

"O-Of course S-Sarah, why would y-you even ask me that?"

"Well Chuck right now it really seems like you don't like me one bit." Sarah exclaimed, tearing up slightly. She pulled the car over to one side of the road; it was dangerous to drive whilst in such a vulnerable state.

Chuck pulled her into his embrace. She resisted but gave in eventually, her stiff frame rigid in Chuck's tender warmth. But Chuck's hugs could melt an iceberg let alone an insecure agent. Sarah relaxed and let go of all her pent up emotions.

After letting Sarah cool off for a while, Chuck released her and held her face tenderly in front of his. "Now what is this really about?"

"I just feel like your abstinence is an excuse to slowly break away from me." she sobbed. Her minute cries shook her entire frame; each sniffle sent her shoulders into a massive upheaval. She brought her legs up to her chest and rested her entire body on the car seat.

"Don't be daft Sarah, I absolutely adore you. You know that so where is this coming from?"

"Don't lie Chuck! I see the way you pull away from me. Everytime we get even remotely intimate you immediately pull back." she hissed. Aggravated, she ripped herself away from Chuck's comforting frame. This was not the time for conciliation.

The most unexpected thing happened next, Chuck began laughing. It started out as a light chuckle then it progressed to a hearty laugh and finished off as a booming roar. Sarah stared at him mouth agape, here she was spilling out her soul, revealing her inner insecurities, and there he was laughing up a storm. She had been with some insensitive guys before but at least none of them tore her up by ridiculing her when she was trying to establish a connection.

"Oh Sarah, you've got it all wrong. You're so wrong it's actually funny." Chuck wheezed between breaths. He was laughing with such force that both his arms were desperately clutching at his sides, holding on for fear of losing them. Tears were literally spilling out of his eyes as he unsuccessfully tried to stabilize his air intake.

"Baby, I lo-care about you."

In a way, that sentence hurt her more than his treating her like a court jester. There were so many hidden meanings in those five words. They were cleverly disguised by layer upon layer of deception. Firstly, he still could not bear saying the 'l' word. Secondly, there was affection in the term he used to address her, baby. Lastly, although he was unsure of the depth of his attraction, he was sure that there was definitely some feeling present.

"I see," she replied coldly. Chuck reached out a hand trying to make some form of contact between them. "No Chuck! It's obvious that you don't have the same feelings towards me as I do to you." Her words lashed out towards Chuck viciously, every syllable burned Chuck from the inside out.

Without thinking, Chuck breached the imaginary barrier that separated them and gave her a searing kiss. It left no doubt as to the feelings he had for her. There were no loose ends, no unanswered questions and no queries.

Sarah felt like her lips were burning up, the kiss was searing hot and yet icy cool at the same time. It was as if this was her first kiss, fireworks of emotion erupting and fizzling inside of her only to be replaced by even more intense explosions. All thoughts were eradicated, all other senses faded into oblivion. Right now there was only one thing on her mind, one feeling that she felt: the softest, tenderest, most intoxicating touch on her lips.

As soon as it began, it was over. The kiss that reverberated throughout her frame left the most lingering sensation on her lips. The instant it ended she wanted it to begin again. "Never doubt how I feel about you." His voice was devoid of jest instead it was replaced by utter focus.

Sarah gulped and nodded, not trusting her voice to do much more than choke. Slight tremors still shook her hands exacerbating the task of starting the car again. Together they drove back home, their home.


	18. Chapter 18

"Hey Sarah, where's my tie?" Chuck called out. First impressions counted, and being late on the first day was not a good first impression to make on your new boss especially when that boss works for the military. It was eight fifteen in the morning right now, he needed to clock in at nine and including the full hour it takes to drive from his house to the company he should have left fifteen minutes ago.

"Here it is!" Sarah screeched back. Sarah appeared with a red striped tie saucily hung around her neck. Strangely she looked more appealing with that red tie than she did with all her skimpy night attire. But as amazing as she looked with it on, he needed it now if he had any hope of getting to work on time. Chuck's hand snapped out to grasp the red tie but Sarah cheekily pulled it back and pranced back to where she came from.

"Sarah…" Chuck moaned. All these morning distractions were going to be a problem if they became commonplace. He found her lying on their bed. She was lying in such a way that her frame managed to cover the entire bed. "Sarah, tie." Chuck commanded.

"You have to come here and undo it." Sarah raised a finger and slowly beckoned for Chuck to approach her. Rolling his eyes, he stepped towards Sarah and proceeded to untie his tie from Sarah's neck. The act of untying a tie brought Chuck really close to Sarah just as she hoped. Sarah waited for Chuck to enter her very personal space before letting a gust of warm breath caress Chuck's neck. Her lips curled up into a smile as she felt Chuck tremble. Surreptitiously, one of Sarah's hands crawled up to Chuck's head and began a slow sensual rub.

"Chuck…" she whispered. Chuck knew exactly what Sarah was doing; it was identical to what she did to make him break their pact of abstinence. The memory slowly swam into the front of his mind as he recounted the hilarious episode that brought about one of the most serious talks of their relationship. It was the talk that solidified Chuck's belief in Sarah as a lover.

_They just came back from yet another date. Despite just returning from a restaurant, they were both still starving. Chuck had gotten rather defensive when a handsome waiter wrapped his arm around Sarah's shoulder when he had arrived to take their orders. Chuck allowed it continue for a minute before standing up, striding to the manager and making a very unpleasant scene. In the end, the waiter was fired and Chuck had dragged Sarah out of the restaurant before any of the food they had not ordered arrived._

_ "You didn't have to do that." Sarah chided as they entered the threshold of their apartment. She was having a good time, not from the waiter trying to chat her up, but from the jealous looks Chuck got from other men. He deserved having these looks and it pleased her knowing that they understood that she was his. Chuck being the ever oblivious soul missed all these looks and only noticed when that waiter slung an arm over Sarah's shoulder._

_ "Yes, I did." It irked Chuck that Sarah did not do anything to halt that waiter's advances, she merely stood there smiling to herself. The guy even had the audacity to make physical contact with her! Deep down Chuck knew the real reason that he was upset, he was afraid. There was this ever-present fear that one day she was going to realize that she could do so much better than him. That waiter for example, he had better hair teeth and features than Chuck. The guy was also a smooth talker and people would actually believe that he could get a girl like Sarah. Now Chuck on the other hand, he was undeserving of a goddess like Sarah. As hard as he could, he reined himself in, never letting her know that he always noticed, the looks, some of disbelief and others of pure smugness, as if waiting for the moment she would have the epiphany and break up with him._

_ He had noticed the looks of the men they passed in the restaurant, each and every one of them. All the men in the restaurant waiting, bidding their time, until the eventual breakup where they could come in and take his place. Next to him, they would look like Harrison Ford._

_ Chuck, taking his bad mood with him, slumped into their sofa and rested his eyes. Sometimes - not always - but sometimes the looks got to him. They filled him with insecurity and doubt. This was one of those times. Sarah sat down next to Chuck, although she did not realize it, this was a habit she developed since the first week of meeting Chuck. They sat there in silence; Sarah was waiting for Chuck to say what was on his mind. Recently every time they went out on a date, at Chuck's insistence, he would always be down when they came back. Oh, he tried not to let it surface, but it was always there, a glint of sadness in his eyes._

_ "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked. _

_ Chuck kept his eyes closed but answered, "I'm just tired." _

_ "That's bullshit and you know it. Now tell me what's bothering you." It hurt her to see how Chuck always tried to shield her from everything, even from himself. It gave her a sense of vulnerability each time he did that. Sometimes she really wanted to scream at him that she was the agent and that he was the asset and most of all that she was fine before she met him. She should be the one coddling him not the other way around. They were a couple now, emotions, worries and doubts should all be shared it was the unspoken clause that came with a relationship._

_ Chuck reached his hand up and pinched the bridge of his nose, debating whether or not to tell her the truth. Normally because of his personality he would have automatically blabbed the truth out but now dumping his insecurities onto her seemed unfair. She had already given up almost her entire identity for him, asking her to pull his proverbial baggage just seemed cruel._

_ "Really it's nothing." A reassuring smile appeared on Chuck's face but it was there again. The glint of disappointment, the shimmer of sadness, it was always there and try as she might Sarah could never get Chuck to unload. To spare himself from anymore of Sarah's questions, Chuck got up and took a shower. Sarah watched him leave before sighing._

_ She never sighed in front of him, never. Chuck was too observant a guy, any signs of regret or exhaustion and he would latch on to it. No matter what it took he would get her out, that's why when in Chuck's presence she would maintain a cheerful façade. On her own was when the sighing began._

_ Chuck had kept to his promise of abstinence, it was a promise and Chuck never went back on his promises. Sarah decided that his vow of celibacy was to come to an end tonight. If Chuck wouldn't tell her what was wrong well there were other ways to distress and truth be told she could use some distressing right now. With that in mind, she removed every article of clothing from her bodice and went into the bathroom._

_ The hot water running down Chuck had fogged up the entire bathroom. The mirror was steamed over and a layer of moisture coated every surface. Just as she hoped, it was nice and steamy. The pitter patter of water was the only sound in the room, and from the silhouette it seemed that Chuck was just standing there. He did not move a muscle as the scalding water rained down on his lanky frame. It was worrying._

_ Sarah climbed in behind Chuck, hoping to surprise him. She slowly snaked her arms around him and pressed herself firmly against his back. His body stiffened further, an expected reaction for someone with Chuck's morals. For a moment, Sarah just allowed the water to pound on their merged bodies; it was a comforting sensation almost like getting a massage. _

_ "Sarah, I've been thinking." Chuck started. Alarms sprang into life in Sarah's mind. A million possibilities flashed through her mind, was he tired of her, was he sick of this life together. Each possibility had one commonality though; they all ended with him leaving her. Unconsciously, her grip on Chuck's body tightened._

_ "If you wanted to pursue a relationship outside of us, I'm alright with it. I don't want you to feel obligated to me just because of our living arrangement." The shrill alarms in her mind softened, this was good. A far cry from the possibilities she had envisioned._

_ "Chuck, we are in a relationship. Get used to it." A dab of humor was just what the doctor ordered, or so she thought. Chuck whipped around to face her; his curly hair was drenched into a deep shade of brown and stuck to his scalp. Steam curled of every inch of his sun-kissed skin as he stared her straight in the eye. _

_ "Please don't joke with me. Do you actually want to be in a relationship, or is this just a thing of convenience?" His tone was flat and deadly serious._

_ "I want this more than you know." she answered without hesitation. It was an answer she had rehearsed millions of times in millions of different ways. _

_ "Alright then." Chuck stepped out of the shower; dried himself off and put on some clothes. Without a word he left the bathroom and went into the bedroom. Sarah was puzzled; one moment he seemed as if he was happy then the next he just leaves without a word. She repeated his routine and followed him._

_ She found Chuck deep in thought, it seemed to be the only thing he did anymore. He was always thinking, about what she never knew. Stepping forward she lied on the bed and used his lap as a pillow."Chuck you've always asked me if I wanted out of this relationship, I've never asked you that. So here it is; do you want to end this?" She held her breath, if he said yes the next ten years were going to be unbelievably awkward._

_ "No, why would you think that? I'm the guy in the movie that defies all odds and ends up with a girl way out of his league. I'm the guy in 'She's out of my league'. You're that Alice Eve lady."_

_ "Chuck when are you going to realize, you're not the one with the out of his league girl, I am."_

_ "Come on Sarah, you got to admit you are way, way out of my league."_

_ "Oh my god Chuck, you're such a sensitive, kind, sweet, honest guy. I'm a girl who without her career has nothing."_

_ "I see it you know. I see the way everyone stares at you. They expect you to be with a person like Bryce not me. I try to ignore the blatant stares but sometimes it's hard."_

_ "Never, never ever, compare yourself to Bryce. And who cares what everyone else thinks? I know that I don't and you know why? It's because I know I'm the lucky one in the relationship." She the silenced any retorts he might have by pulling his collar down and placing a kiss on his lips. Chuck's hands moved to her face, gently cradling it. Knowing she was making progress, she delicately used her other hand to massage his head. _

_ The moment she felt his hands under her shirt, she knew the drought was at an end. Finally, she thought._

Chuck had to pull out before it was too late. Reluctantly, he pulled back leaving a light tingle on his lips. Sarah groaned but knew they did not have time. She snatched the tie from his hands and proceeded to tie it around Chuck's neck as roughly as possible.

"You could call in sick today." she said hopefully, it would mean one more amazing day with Chuck.

"No, that would give people the wrong impression, who takes leave on his first day?" he joked.

"Someone with a ready and willing hot girlfriend at home." she grumbled.

"The people at work don't know that." he pointed out.

"I could show them if you want. Instead of me joining the firm next week, I could just come in today. We can ignore all the qualms we had and just fake a love at first sight thing today?" The plan was for Chuck to join the company and then for Sarah to join a few days later. They would pretend not to notice one another for a few days before Chuck would initiate contact and let a romance bloom.

"Sorry honey, we got to follow orders." Chuck was going to work at an analysts firm. It was a huge corporate company that handled a sizable percentage of all the NSA's analytical work. Although not what Chuck wanted, as it was still related to the government, it was the best they could get Beckman to agree on. Everything else was shot down for being too risky due to unknown security risks.

Chuck gathered the last of his things, looked himself once up and down in the mirror and headed out. Thankfully, the bus arrived the moment Chuck reached the bus stop. The large metallic beast groaned to a stop next to Chuck. It was hard to believe that something that 'burped' out such acrid fumes could actually be a lot more eco-friendly as compared to a car.

The bus was cramped, every seat was filled up and a whole host of people were standing up, cramped like sardines. The bus moved jerkily and with the close proximity, Chuck could not help bumping into the people around him.

A yelp of surprise caught his attention; to his left was a pretty brunette with her files and papers sprawled out before her on the ground. Without thinking, Chuck inched his way down, careful to not knock against anyone and began assembling the papers for her. She muttered thanks and bent down to rearrange her papers.

Chuck grabbed the last few sheets and handed them to her. Together they stood up. Not a moment after she straightened her back, the bus screeched to a halt and all of its passengers flew forward. The lady was instantly pushed down again. When she picked herself up again, Chuck used his arms and body as a barrier to save her from further injury. Throughout the remainder of the journey, the lady did not say a thing. Chuck, too, did his best to avoid eye contact and refrained from any verbal communication.

When the bus finally lurched to a stop at Chuck's destination, he was surprised to find the lady follow him out of the bus. To his ever greater surprise, she seemed to be headed the same way as him. Both of them remained mute as they walked, the earlier show of chivalry was still too fresh a memory for any casual conversation to start.

The building Chuck worked for had a dull, boring appearance. It would seem that the building was designed for function and function alone. There was precious little else besides a metal block with glass walls on the upper floors. Two menacing doors opened to welcome Chuck into what would surely be a dismal job; it almost made him miss working at the BuyMore – almost.

The chilled air hit him like a splash of water, it was a scorching ninety degrees outside and this cool environment was a welcomed change. Chuck strode in purposefully; it was a technique Ellie had taught him when he was going for his entrance interview at Stanford. "Always look like you know what you're doing even if you don't." he heard Ellie's voice reprimand. After years of dependency on one another, Ellie and Chuck used to joke that they could always hear each other's voice giving them advice, almost like a manifestation of their conscience.

Upon reaching the front desk, Chuck inquired as to where he was to report, "Hi I'm Chuck Bartowski. I was asked to report here today."

The man at the desk looked up, he had a stern look on his face that was accentuated by the deep furrows across his forehead. "Yes, Mr. Bartowski, you were expected. A little earlier I might add." Chuck cringed, he knew he was late, he was just hoping that no one would notice. Seeing that Chuck had no excuse to cover his tardiness small as it might be, he continued, "Please follow me."

The middle-aged man promptly stood up, gathered his things and walked off in the direction of a row of doors. Each door was identical to the next, wooden with a silver metal handle. The only differing aspect was the number engraved in the silver label. "Must be hell to find your door." Chuck joked, hoping to lighten the mood. If the man heard he made no indication of it so Chuck just zipped his yap and followed obediently.

Chuck's mind drifted away from this steel monolith and into greener pastures. He wondered what Sarah was doing, whether Casey was enjoying being away from Chuck and about a million other things. This of course caused Chuck to crash into his guide outside one of the doors. The man huffed and walked off.

"Wait," Chuck called out. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked.

"You go in. I don't think I have to show you how to do that right? You do know how to turn a handle." The man replied sarcastically. Chuck grinned, sarcasm he could understand. Despite the rocky introduction, Chuck had an innate feeling that one day the two of them would be friends. He was like Casey all over again.

Chuck steadied himself with a deep breath and opened the door. The door swung open effortlessly and Chuck scanned the room. The room reminded Chuck of the home theatre room back at the BuyMore. It housed a comfy looking sofa, a huge plasma screen and to top it off surround sound speaker system. Lining the walls on both sides were personalized desk spaces, they were pretty much a computer with a bunch of knickknacks around them. Among the spaces two stood out to Chuck, the one closest to the door on the left and right. The reason they stood out were that they were both bare. He guessed that they were for Sarah and him.

There were about four other guys in the room with Chuck, three of them were about Chuck's age and one looked to be around Casey's. Not surprisingly, the oldest in the room was the first to break out of his stupor to introduce himself. He extended a hand to Chuck and Chuck received it warmly. "Hey, my name is Nicholas, not Nick, Nicholas."

"Chuck."

"The two on the couch are Collin and Daryl. The robot at the desks is Zach and that's everyone."

At that moment the door on the opposite side of the room swung open, in strode the same brunette Chuck ran into this morning. "Oh, that's our supervisor Carrie." Nicholas said indicating to the brunette.

Shock must have showed on Chuck's face because Carrie shot him a small smile. Blood rushed to his cheeks as Chuck turned away. "Chuck," she started. Chuck's gaze shot up again, "Please follow me." She then turned and headed back into the room from whence she came. Chuck followed quickly, taking note of the stares of disbelief directed at him from his would-be colleagues.

The room he entered was her office presumably; it was lined with shelves of books and files. Her desk was neatly arranged and decorated with a few family photos. She indicated for Chuck to take a seat and he did so. "Now, Mr. Bartowski,"

"Chuck, please." he interjected.

She looked slightly surprised but in a good way, this was one person who was not used to being interrupted. "Yes, Chuck, you will be joining our team from now on. I assume Nicholas has gotten you acquainted with everyone. The empty desk space on the right is yours, decorate anyway you wish. Later, set your password and be sure to encrypt it – well." she flashed him a sly smile. "We are in a team of hackers after all. Company data is not to be taken out of this facility and for your sake do not try to sneak things away, we're the government. I hope you enjoy your time here."

Chuck nodded appreciatively and stood to leave. As he was about to open the door, she said, "Thank you for today." He chose not to reply and simple exited the room. If there was one thing Chuck hated it was people that sucked up to their superiors. To Chuck credit should be given according to skill not flattery. He hoped that she would not treat him unfairly because of the event today. Biasedness also gains you enemies.


	19. Chapter 19

Bored, bored, bored, she thought. A whole day without Chuck; this is torture of the cruelest degree. The past few of her days had been spent reveling in Chuck's affections; now without him, Sarah was left without nothing and no one to occupy her time. Since Chuck left the house, Sarah spent twenty minutes simply staring at the door hoping her 'ready and willing hot girlfriend' would bring him back in. Her natural petulance caused her to blindly waste that much time before relenting that Chuck was not coming back. Sarah sighed and resigned to her fate of an intense boredom.

She went about trying to remember what she used to do before she met Chuck. The entire morning was spent cleaning and rearranging things – mostly Chuck's things because she liked their smell – it was pretty sad. By noon, she was left with nothing to do but lie on the couch, hugging one of Chuck's shirts.

A few loud knocks pulled Sarah back from the grasps of her daydreams. She reluctantly picked herself up and opened the door. The door opened and standing at the doorway was Devon. He looked slightly uncomfortable and his eyes were darting from side to side. Dressed in a doctor's outfit, he seemed rather weary. Dark eye bags clung to his eyes; his white cat was crumpled as if he slept in it.

"Hey Sarah." he called sheepishly.

"Hey Devon." Sarah replied with equal unease. Ellie visiting would have been normal; she frequently bombarded Sarah with questions so a surprise visit was not unexpected. Devon, on the other hand, was closer to Chuck than he was to Sarah; maybe because his repertoires of jokes were a little discriminating to women. Then again, besides Chuck almost all men were like that.

"Uh, what's up?" Sarah asked. The whole situation was awkward to say the least.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to see how you and Chuck were handling the whole moving in together thing." This was strange, not his reason butt the fact that in the two sentences he just said not a single 'awesome' appeared. Usually he peppered his sentences with 'awesome', so this was strange. What does he really want, thought Sarah.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure…" Sarah stepped aside to let Devon in. The tall doctor entered the house carefully. Sarah noticed his hesitance; it was almost like he was watching out for traps as he walked in. That was ridiculous, Sarah always deactivated the traps when she was at home, Chuck might accidentally set one off. Ignoring Devon uncalled caution; Sarah led him into the living room. Due to Chuck's absence, the house was immaculately tidied.

Devon was nervous; he had a mission to accomplish. Morgan and Casey had looked him up at the hospital after a grueling double shift. They brought epic news. Apparently, a girl Chuck went out with in his high school years was back. Chuck and her were unbelievably close, in fact they would have gotten married and lived happily ever after if she had not moved to Italy in her senior year.

Now, the guys had elected Devon to break the news to Sarah. Devon refused originally of course, whilst he was dating Ellie, she had told him all about Victoria. Ellie had loved her –maybe more than she loved Sarah – and was heartbroken when Victoria had to move away. Ellie's reaction was subtle compared to Chuck's, he stayed depressed and it took Jill to get him out of his funk. That of course exacerbated Jill's breakup with Chuck.

God Sarah is not going to like this, Devon thought. "Hey Sarah, not that I don't enjoy the time we spend together but I have news. Victoria is back." Devon cringed, protected his face and scrunched his body up into a fetal position. He expected Sarah to erupt, bits of emotion spewing everywhere – most of them anger-related.

Instead, Sarah simply said, "Who?" Devon carefully inched his eyes open, Sarah was sitting opposite him with a puzzled expression. Her eyebrow was scrunched up and she just sat there waiting for an explanation.

"You don't know who Victoria is?" Devon asked incredulously. Sarah nodded and motioned for him to continue. "Chuck never mentioned anyone named Victoria? Seriously? What about all the time you guys were dating, Chuck never brought up any of his exes? Victoria was like the person Chuck was hopelessly in love with."

Sarah remained cool through all of Devon's words until that last sentence. That was when she pounced on Devon and started hammering him for details. "What? When? How?"

Devon smirked; this was the reaction they were expecting. "Okay cool down. Alright, Chuck met Victoria in high school and they dated for two years. Chuck was in love and so was she. They were the most perfect couple in the world. They would have totally gotten married if she did not move away to Italy in their final year."

If Sarah was angry before, she was seething now. Rage pretty much was emanating of her; anyone within a twenty metre radius was in danger of permanent injury. An invisible flame burned behind her icy blue irises. Oh no, thought Devon, his eyes wide with fear.

"Tell me how they met." Sarah stated.

"Well, Chuck was never the most confidant of guys. His awkward phase got worse in high school of course. Well, according to Ellie, Chuck was…" Devon started.

_Chuck walked into the hallowed halls of his high school filled with self-consciousness. It almost seemed that everyone in high school had to be socially awkward, a requirement of some sorts. So there he was wandering through the halls with an expression of utter confusion. That was when he saw her; she was beautiful, long cascading honey-brown hair, delicate yet strong features, a great figure and two striking green eyes. _

_ The moment their eyes met, it was like a connection was made. All sense of discomfort left him; he was right where he was meant to be. They filtered through the halls like ghosts until their bodies stood mere inches away from one another. For a full minute they just stood there staring at one another. _

_ Finally she broke the palpable link between them. "Hi, I'm Victoria."_

_ "Chuck." he stammered._

_ She giggled and Chuck felt weak, it was the most unbelievable sound he has ever heard. It was like a choir of angels landed in the school and started a melancholy of notes so pure and refined it seemed almost a sin for them to be lost to the wind. _

_ "Hey, I'm new here." Chuck said._

_ "I can tell; you have that junior look. Don't worry, I'm a sophomore, I'll show you around." she laughed._

Meanwhile back at work, Chuck was having trouble getting settled in. The computer in his personal space was complex to say the least. This was probably the first time Chuck ever had trouble with a computer since maybe kindergarten.

He walked over to ask one of the guys for help but they all gave him identical replies, "It is the initiation. The computer was encrypted on purpose, a test if you will." Chuck sighed and rubbed his eyes, this was proving frustrating. His eyes zoned in on the screen of his laptop; it was completely blue with a small grey dialogue box in the middle.

The box was infuriatingly simple, it simply said, "To the new user: How are you? My name is Alleryc, as per tradition, when one analyst leaves he will encrypt his computer for his replacement. Now it is your time, find the password in this message to unlock your computer. Good luck and pardon the grammatical mistakes, I had to type this in a rush – you know typical government bullshit, anyway good luck. To access this computer you will have to solve three tests. These are more for my amusement than anything else but that's life. The first test is control freak.

Chuck squeezed his eyes in frustration. The password is in the computer, what did that mean, he wondered. Once again he experimented by simply tapping on each key in the keyboard individually, searching for some kind of reaction. Nothing happened, no matter what he did the text box on the screen remained as it was.

Periodically, the guys would walk by his space and pretend not to peek whether he had made progress. On occasion, even Carrie came out and took a quick look. Speak of the devil, Collin strolled on by and gave a not so secretive glance at Chuck's computer screen. Chuck turned around in his swivel chair and said, "Okay, that's it. I give up, Collin will you help me?"

Collin's nationality was given away by his appearance. His red hair, stocky frame and curly hair all reflected his Irish descent. He seemed like a leprechaun that had a massive growth spurt and lost all the green threads. "Sorry boy'o," Years of living in America had driven the accent out of his words, although he did still use Irish terms like boy'o. The result was rather humorous. "You got to do it on your own."

Chuck returned his attention back to the dull screen. Nothing had changed; the text box still remained the only thing on the screen. Centering his mind, Chuck read each word carefully. This test was puzzling; the only thing it said was control freak. What in the world did control freak mean, Chuck wondered.

Just then his phone started to vibrate; Chuck lifted it out of his pocket and checked the caller identification. Sarah's name appeared on the screen in thin white letters. Assuming the worst, Chuck answered and instantly bombarded Sarah with questions.

"What's wrong? Did something happen? Are you alright? Oh my god, did something happen to Ellie or Devon?"

A light laugh sounded on the other side; Sarah was laughing. Chuck's paranoia always had a direct line to Sarah's funny bone. "No Chuck it's nothing like that. I just missed you that's all."

It was astounding how such a simple sentence could send ripple after ripple of warmth through him. He heaved a massive sigh of relief, wow he almost had a heart attack. "Why didn't you say anything?" Chuck whined.

"With you going on like that, it would have been impossible." she explained.

"Any reason you called?"

"I told you I missed you."

"Okay, it's just that you don't usually do this kind of thing." Chuck explained.

"I know but I'm going to start." she reassured him.

"Great, well I have to go now."

"Oh, I love you."

"Yeah love you too." Chuck hung up on the call. As touched as he was, that was not typical Sarah behavior. She was not one to call him even if she did miss him. Her pride always managed to get in the way of it. But she was who he loved, pride and all. Something was wrong and he was going to find out what. As to the control freak test, Chuck finally got it. He repeatedly jammed the control key on the keyboard before him. After about ten taps, the dialogue on the text box changed. Now it said, test 1 cleared, Chuck smiled he had done a bunch of this kind of stupid tests back in his Stanford days. They usually involved literal meanings of common phrases that we are accustomed to.

This test was going to be a snap. The text box now read, the next test will only be available tomorrow, thank you. Satisfied that he had done well, he pulled out his Iphone for a time check. It was now three in the afternoon; he had missed lunch in his attempts to solve the puzzle.

Someone behind him cleared their throat and Chuck swiveled around to face the person. Carrie, his supervisor, was standing behind him. She shifted from foot to foot as if settling on one before deciding on the other. Her gaze was fixed firmly on her constantly shifting feet and she wrung her arms together in front of her. Chuck arched an eyebrow curiously; what possible reason could she have for standing there?

"I noticed that you didn't take lunch." she said gingerly.

"Yeah, I err lost track of time on this puzzle." Chuck explained.

"Well, since I haven't had lunch yet, would you like to join me?" she asked shyly. A blush blossomed on her cheeks as she said this. Chuck thought about it: he was in a relationship with Sarah but having lunch with a colleague could hardly be counted as adultery.

"Sure."

Carrie's face brightened at Chuck's acceptance. She started walking out of the room with Chuck on her tail. Chuck was amazed; director Carrie and normal Carrie were polar opposites. One was cold and projected an aura of confidence and stature while the other was demure and soft-spoken. Carrie was overjoyed but wisely contained her happiness in a shy smile. She had liked Chuck from the moment he bent down to pick u her things for her; not many men were that chivalrous.

The pair walked through a series of corridors and several flights of stairs. Finally they arrived at what looked like a typical government cafeteria. There were benches and long tables spread out over regular intervals. People – some in uniforms decorated by scores of medals and some in lab coats – were carrying trays of food to their tables. The only thing that separated this place from the cafeteria Chuck went to back at Stanford was the food itself. Where run-of-the-mill cafeterias sold burgers and soft drinks, this cafeteria sold exquisite food.

Chuck wondered in awe at the extensive range of food with Carrie bringing up the occasional comment. "Oh they have the best risotto…no you won't want to try that stall…my favorite here is the salmon salad, they sell it over there."

Without any prior knowledge, Chuck decided to take up one of Carrie's recommendations – the fettuccine. Carrie ordered her own food and they walked to an empty table to eat. "The government hopes to keep us happy with the nice food and big pay checks." she explained when Chuck asked about the quality of the food.

Lunch took them a while, mostly because they would take a bite and then talk non-stop for fifteen minutes before taking another. When they were done, Chuck offered to dispose of her tray for her but she merely laughed and said that they were not expected to clean up after they ate. Chuck disposed of their trays anyway.

Carrie was so excited over lunch. Maybe Chuck would take a liking to me too, she thought. As Chuck browsed the choices, Carrie made the occasional comment; giving her opinion of the different stalls and her experiences with them. When Chuck decided on one of her recommendations, she felt a small surge of pride. He trusts me; she thought and then berated herself for paying so much attention on such minute things. Lunch was comfortable; they had more things in common than they had originally thought. Besides both being computer prodigies, they also shared a mutual thirst for video games both vintage and modern.

Because of their late and long lunch, by the time they finished their meal, it was nearing quitting time. Chuck followed Carrie to the door of the building, not wanting to get lost in the myriad of corridors of passageways. Once there, he said his goodbyes and drove home. The drive was quick and pleasant; it provided Chuck an excellent opportunity to review his thoughts.

"Hey honey." Sarah was waiting for Chuck to get back; she sat on the porch of their house staring at the road waiting for the familiar car to turn the corner. The day without Chuck had not gone as expected: instead of having a day to herself, she spent the day thinking about Chuck and finding out about Chuck's almost wife. Once Chuck stepped out of the car, he was assaulted by a flurry of blonde hair. Chuck took a deep breath, letting the scent of vanilla wash over him.

"Hi there." Chuck said.

"Hi," Sarah whispered.

"What did you do today?" he asked once they started walking back into the house.

"Oh nothing," she replied nonchalantly. As long as Victoria doesn't come near Chuck, she's no threat, she thought.

Chuck observed Sarah's face morph into the one she always had when she was thinking of something. "What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm? Oh sorry I was thinking about something."

"I know, it's what I was asking about."

"It's nothing, what do you want to do for dinner?" she asked.

Chuck leaned over and kissed Sarah on the lips. She of course happily obliged, responding and losing herself in the kiss. When the kiss was done, Chuck pulled back leaving Sarah still with her eyes closed and lips pursed together. "Wow what was that for?" she asked.

"The call today." Chuck answered. "Now as to dinner, I'll cook."

Sarah smiled dreamily and said, "That can wait till after this." She then pulled Chuck in to another kiss. Thus kiss lasted longer because everytime Chuck tried to pull back, she would use the hand she placed behind his head to push him back into the kiss. Finally woozy from air deprivation, Sarah let him go. Both of them stood there regaining their breath with radiant smiles on their faces.

"Now for dinner." Chuck announced.

"Can I help?" Sarah asked.


	20. Chapter 20

"Sarah… there are egg shells in the wash." Chuck groaned in frustration. If there was a chink in Sarah's all rounded perfection it was her cooking. Despite all her gun shooting and knife throwing, the girl had problems cracking eggs. Chuck had originally planned to cook Sarah dinner on his own but she had interjected saying that cooking was a pas de deux for couples and she should help him. Fully knowing Sarah's incompetence in the culinary arts, Chuck had fiercely denied. Unfortunately for him, Sarah was not one to take no for an answer.

"_Chuck can I help?" I'm going to have to learn to cook eventually, so why not tonight? Chuck might be the one person with the inexhaustible patience that can handle my less than desirable skills. _

_ "Oh no," he replied quickly. Sarah eyed Chuck suspiciously, his voice has risen an entire octave in that last sentence. "I mean I can handle it fine." he amended._

_ Sarah's disgruntled expression told Chuck to try again."I want to make tonight all about you?" he tried once more. As he said this, his shoulders shrugged as if to ask whether that was a good enough reason to rebuke her help. _

_ Her expression did not lighten up by even a fraction. Instead she uttered a deep guttural growl, warning him that he had better tread carefully. "Chuck…" she began in a sickly sweet voice. "We're a couple right?" without waiting for an affirming nod, she continued, "Now cooking is a rite of passage for all couples, a necessity of sorts. Are you going to deny me this one fragment of something normal?" Ironically, Chuck had always been the one in the pursuit of normalcy but here it was Sarah who was fighting to protect this one moment of normality. _

_ Chuck opened his mouth to answer but she cut him off, "Don't even bother answering, that was a rhetorical question." Satisfied that he had nothing to say, she turned and sauntered into the kitchen. Realizing that this was inevitable, he relented and followed Sarah._

_ The first few minutes of cooking passed without a hitch. That was attributed mostly to the fact that all Chuck allowed Sarah to do was cut vegetables. Unfortunately, this tranquility was not to last; Sarah soon complained that Chuck was doing all the fun stuff and only letting Sarah do preparatory work. Chuck being blinded by how Sarah made quick work of the vegetables, allowed her to prepare the egg wash for desert. _

"Well it's not my fault. These egg shells are so brittle." she rebutted. Her frustration only made her worse, soon the egg wash had no less than two full eggs worth of shells mixed amongst its contents. The beige egg shell pieces floated on the top of the gooey yellow egg mixture. It reminded Sarah of dead bodies floating on water.

Chuck took the bowl of eggs away from Sarah before she could do anymore damage. He passed the viscous substance through a sieve to remove all the obstructive shells. Then he grabbed Sarah's hand and led her out to the dining room. "You may be the best spy in the world, but you are totally inept at cooking anything but breakfast. So you stay right here and I will prepare the rest of dinner for you alone." Chuck put added emphasis on the last word so that Sarah would understand that her help was most definitely not needed.

Sarah was stunned by Chuck's forthcoming and simply accepted what he said. She sat in a wooden chair and waited. Half an hour later, Chuck returned carrying a white plate. The contents of the white plate were shielded from view by a silver cover. Slowly Chuck set the platter onto the table and lifted its cover. Under the cover was a rack of lamb. The lamb was crusted with spices and dark brown gravy was tastefully drizzled onto it. The lamb was perfectly cooked, the color of the meat gradually changed from brown to pink towards the centre of the lamb. Beside the lamb was a small pile of vegetables; they were seared to perfection and now had char marks on them.

"Wow Chuck, I didn't know you could cook this well." Sarah exclaimed. In response, Chuck merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if it was something that anyone could do. It was then that Sarah noticed that there was only one plate. "Err…not to spoil the mood or anything but where is your plate?"

"Oh, I had a really late lunch so I'm not hungry." he answered coolly.

"Chuck, it's not healthy to skip meals." she admonished with a frown.

Chuck's smile faded slightly. Can't she just enjoy it, he asked himself. As he was about to voice out his thoughts, a fork was thrust in front of his face. A juicy chunk of meat hung on the fork. Chuck looked up to see Sarah holding the fork to him. "Eat." she commanded.

Obediently, he opened his mouth and engulfed the fork with it. Even he was surprised at how good it tasted; the meat was tender and flavorful while the gravy was rich and thick. Sarah moaned as she took her first bite; her eyes drifted close to accentuate its flavor. "Sorry Chuck but this has sealed the deal, we need to get married so that you can stay by my side and cook for me every day."

Chuck rolled his eyes at her comment. Normally Sarah would have continued teasing him but her mouth was preoccupied with something much more important namely eating. Her mouth never stopped, she refilled her mouth before it was empty. Despite her clear disapproval of Chuck's eating habits, the one bite she gave Chuck was all he got from her plate. In record time, she finished the meal. After she was done, she sat back and a contented smile overcame her face.

"I actually think that was better than sex." she whispered.

"Glad you think so." Chuck said before clearing up. "Cause it's time for desert."

"Don't even joke about something like that." she warned. You don't mess with Sarah and a Chuck Bartowski desert. She's killed for less.

Chuck chuckled (no pun intended). He then brought out a chocolate tart; the tart looked like a deep dish of chocolate with a biscuit base. "This is what came out of your egg wash." Chuck made air quotes as he said egg wash.

Sarah's eyes narrowed and Chuck abruptly shut up. Handing her a fork, they sat down to share the tart. "So how was your first day at work?" Sarah asked as she forked a heap of tart into her mouth.

"Fine." Chuck answered.

Sarah raised an eyebrow, on a normal day; Chuck would go on and on about just about everything. "Everything okay?" she inquired.

"Yeah, everything's great."

"Come on spill it." she ordered.

"Spill what?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Whatever it is that you're not telling me." she said quickly.

"Nothing's wrong Sarah." he reassured. Sarah's hand literally froze as Chuck gave his reply. The fork with bits of chocolate-coated biscuit hung motionlessly midway to Sarah's mouth. Chuck gulped; this was not good, he felt the tension in the room intensify. Slowly, Sarah's eyes drifted towards Chucks. Chuck on the other hand kept his gaze on anything except Sarah.

"Tell me." she growled.

Chuck released a breath he did not realize he was holding; the way she looked at him, he thought she was going to shoot him or something. "Sarah, it's just a job, it's like every other job in the world."

Sarah set her fork down and stood up. The chair screeched as it was roughly pushed back against the floor. In a flash she was standing behind Chuck; her hands rested on Chuck's shoulders and this caused them to tense up. Resisting the monumental urge to turn around, Chuck sat perfectly still in his seat.

"You seem stressed." she began. Her hands lightly rubbed Chuck's shoulders, relieving them off their non-existent knots. "Are you sure nothing happened at work?" Chuck immediately nodded vigorously. "Nothing at all?" she whispered in his ear.

Her delightful ministrations were eroding away Chuck's inhibitions like water on stone. Tension left his shoulders like a vapor and against his better judgment he started talking about his work. From the dull workplace to the eccentric personalities of his colleagues, he described everything in stunning detail. Throughout his story, Sarah remained silent and simply continued rubbing his shoulders. Only until he brought up Carrie and the late lunch he had with her did Sarah speak up.

"Is she pretty?" she asked nonchalantly. Rule one of spying: know your enemy.

"Carrie? Oh uhm yeah I guess she is kinda pretty." he replied. Wrong answer, Sarah thought. Her hands halted and Chuck realized what he had said. "But not as pretty as you." he amended.

Sarah remained mum and left the room. She passed up desert, he thought. Quickly he jumped to his feet and took off after her. He found her standing in the kitchen rummaging through the cabinets. Chuck cleared his throat nervously.

"Where's the tea?" she asked softly. Chuck walked up beside her, placed his hand on top of hers and guided it towards the box of tea bags in the corner. Wordlessly, she retrieved one of the bags and put it in a cup. Then she took the metal kettle standing in the middle of a row of new appliances and started preparing some hot water.

Neither said a word as Sarah plugged the kettle in and let it run. They each reveled in the silence contemplating their thoughts. Finally, Sarah broke the palpable silence, "Victoria's back."

Of all the things he expected her to say, that was not one of them. How did she even know about Victoria, he wondered. "Oh?" he said.

"Yeah. I heard you two were pretty close."

"I guess." The kettle's sharp whistle shocked them both. Sarah reached over, unplugged it and poured some of the steaming water into her mug. Steam rose as the water filled the cup. When the cup was full, she replaced the kettle on its stand and blew the steaming water gently.

"Are you upset?" Chuck asked suddenly.

"No," she answered honestly. "I'm disappointed."

"Why?" Chuck asked curiously. He had expected her to be absolutely livid by now.

"Why? You didn't even tell me about her. I had to find out about this Victoria person from Devon. Devon! He's not my husband, heck I'm not even related to him and yet he told me about her. I thought you never lied to me Chuck?"

"I never did technically. Victoria is the past, you're the present. You had never asked me about her."

"Lies of omission are still lies." she murmured.

Chuck stepped over to Sarah and hugged her frame. "I didn't know I was supposed to inform you about all my previous girlfriends." he said truthfully.

"You're not. But she's not just a girlfriend, you wanted to marry her!" she accused.

"I admit I did at the time."

"Ha! See."

"But if you think that I'm going to leave you over her then I'm the one disappointed in you." Just like that, he stepped away from her and sat down in a chair.

Sarah felt ashamed; Chuck never did anything to betray her trust except maybe that lunch date with Carrie. She mentally berated herself for being such an emotional rollercoaster. "I'm sorry." she said. Why did her tone have to be one of reproach? It was not Chuck's fault that he had fallen in love with someone years before he met her. Yet, Sarah still felt an undeniable pang of jealousy, someone else had held Chuck's heart before her and just like Jill they had let it go.

"Me too." he said.

"But why? You did not do anything wrong."

"You were right lies of omission are still lies."

Both feeling guilty and upset, they shared a small kiss. A promise of honesty in the future, no more lies between the two. Together in that kitchen a silent covenant was made, no words were required, no legal document need be signed, just a kiss to seal the deal.

Pulling away, Chuck smiled at Sarah. At least this was out of the way, one fight out of the many sure to come over. "What sparked this thing about Victoria off?"

"Well, after I heard of Carrie, I just couldn't help myself. I got really jealous and it manifested itself in the form of Victoria."

"Well now that that's out of the way, how about a movie?"

"Sure."

They moved to the living room and Chuck went to scrounge around for a movie. It took ten minutes of searching but he finally located a cabinet stocked with movies. Trust the NSA to think of everything. They decided to watch Get Smart because of the obvious relation to spying.

Each time something related to spying happened they would both laugh because they knew the truth. Spying was nothing like the movies portrayed it to be. Sure there were the suits and the glamour but that was simply a cover. The underlying truth was that spying was just cruel. Each side thought they were doing the right things and all that led to was mindless killing. Actually a spy was nothing more than a killing machine, a pawn to some heartless puppet master engaged in a bureaucratic war.

Truthfully, they were laughing to hide their true feelings. Chuck was sad because he would never have the happy ending that Steve Carell got and yet he could never complain about the spy life because Sarah loved it. To please her he had to at least keep up the pretense that although he did not like spying he did not outright hate it. Sarah was sad as well, on the outside she keeps saying that the spy life was all she had and that was what upset her, spying had stripped her of a childhood, a chance to experience normalcy and a life. But she would do it all again because it brought her Chuck. They both would.

Sarah fell asleep before the movie ended and Chuck had to carry her upstairs to bed. He tucked her in and slid in beside her. All the troubles that plagued their lives could wait for another day, for now he would take some of Byrce's advice, he would live in the moment. For that's all he could get, a moment of happiness here and there, a chance to distract himself from all the problems in his life, a fleeting surge of joy before he had to return to the spy life, before he had to return to the pain. Before the Intersect, he used to be able to console himself with the fact that although he was not the best looking, most athletic or richest kid, he was happy. That was the excuse he used to stop the tears that threatened whenever someone brought up his broken childhood or insulted Ellie about their lack of parents, now he could no longer use the same excuse.


End file.
